The Call of Midnight
by schizophrenic-twilight-lover
Summary: Darkness gave each of them mirrors to their hearts: one fought to control the demons he'd created within himself, another let loose the devils that strained in sunlight, and the last felt himself falling victim to them both. itahina sasuhina
1. Chapter 1

_**AN:** I have not written a story on here in so long. This is heartbreakingly nostalgic. In a good and bad way._

 _I am going to be very honest here, and say that I have not watched any of Naruto Shippuden other than the first two or three episodes. I am not well versed in the intricacies of the Naruto world and the characters that reside there in terms of their physical abilities while fighting - eg. Huuyga fighting is all about chakra networks. That is the extent of my knowledge. There. That is why this story is focused on a world where Itachi did not betray the village, there was no Uchiha coop d'etat, and everyone is just living their life as if they were normal people. Sort of. This also means there are no negative feelings between Itachi and Sasuke, other than the ones that naturally develop between siblings as they progress through puberty and both happen to be angsty motherfuckers._

 _It may seem weird that I am writing stories for Naruto after just admitting I'm not a huge fan of the manga or show, but I did watch the 300 episodes in the Naruto before Sasuke came back into the picture! Though I feel like those were probably the most unimportant episodes in the development of the storyline, haha. Anyways, I've been reading a lot of Naruto fanfiction, specifically centred around Sasuke, Hinata, and Itachi, either alone or in combination. They are honestly the most interesting characters to me. I can't stand Sakura. Naruto is fun, but he's also annoying. But it is because of these three characters that I am so enthralled in Naruto fanfiction, and of course, they inspired this piece that I am trying to write._

 _Please give me feedback. I need all the help I can get._

* * *

They met for the first time under the thick cloak of night.

The cool night air embraced her in its velvety cloak, and she breathed out a sigh of relief. Twigs crunched sharply under her even footfalls. There was no need to be quiet in this area of the woods; it was a great weight off her chest. The ends of her thin, cotton nightgown blew raggedly in the wind as she continued forward, no clear destination in sight, but a feeling burned in her that night which pulled her further and further into the earthy arms of the woods.

The decision to leave her bed had been an innocent one. She was far away from the land of sleep, her mind too awake and running through thoughts. It was the typical nightly reflection where Hinata felt as if her mind had been let off its leash. A unwanted replay of the day's events focused primarily on moments of embarrassment or anxiety and the tiny girl let out a particularly loud groan of frustration as she recalled the how she had stumbled in front of Neji, and had rather ungracefully steadied herself with the desperate flailing of her arms. Hyuuga weren't suppose to stumble, much less flail. Her cheeks burned even as she laid in complete darkness, snuggled under sheets and blankets. Hinata knew from habit that fighting the natural whirling rumination of her mind would do nothing but prolong her wakeful state. Trying to remain as silent as she could, the pale-skinned girl swung her legs to hang off the side of her bed as she sat up, before padding with soft steps down the hall to get herself a glass of water.

It had been on her way back to her room when she looked out a window and noticed the moon, full and bright, staring back at her. The craters, marred by distance, were nonetheless illuminated and appeared like the sunspots that had dotted her late-grandmother's skin, while the reflected light of the moon was so bright in some areas that it looked to be glittering. Darkness had turned the sky into a deep, deep blue, and she reached out fingers as if to touch it. But all she could grasp was air. The motion made her hands seem so empty – achingly so.

In a manner so uncharacteristic of herself, she left the Hyuuga estate without second thoughts. Her feet carried her through the hallways, into the courtyard, and out the compound doors. She had no idea what had possessed her to walk outside, much less leave the compound, when she was finding it a near daily struggle to get out of bed in the mornings. Every morning, she woke up in a state where she found herself weighed down by burdens, worries, the presence of others, the noise, and it took everything in her to rise from under her cozy covers. But nighttime seemed to make her lose all inhibitions. She felt comforted in the dark, the silence. She could hear herself breathe.

Hinata quickened her pace to surround herself in the forest by her home. The lush greens of the daytime seemed more beautiful in the dark. In the glare of sunlight, the leaves were too bright, waving in the breeze, seeming so fragile in its translucence. Now, they hung off branches, thick and steady in the wind, confident. As she continued to walk into the depth of the woods, she could feel her mind slowly unwinding, letting loose all the mental tension it held during the day. In the past few months, Hinata had been put on a sleuth of rotations between missions outside the village, and heiress duties within the Hyuuga compound. One gave way to the other and she was forced to remain _present -_ always vigilant, constant wary. During the day, all she wanted to do was hide away in some dark hole so everyone would just leave her alone yet every evening, much like tonight, insomnia plagued her until the early hours of dawn. It was tiring, and Hinata could feel herself burning out. The wick of her candle was drowning in wax, and she could see the flames sputtering. _I wonder what they'll do when it goes out_ , she had thought to herself.

By the way the trees were thinning out in front of her, Hinata knew she was getting to the end of the forest which lead into a clearing, and it was only upon setting foot on the dense grassy field that she allowed herself to collapse on her back to breathe. A stream bubbled nearby and Hinata basked in the clarity of this night, her body pressed down on the damp softness below her. She laid there, feeling her chest expand and shrink with every breath, as the stars shone bare above her. _Please don't let morning come_ , she begged wordlessly.

And then she heard it: splashes of water. Purposeful splashes of water. She could feel fear slowly creeping into her chest, but she picked herself up and trepidly walked towards the sound. Standing in the stream was a figure in all black, even the hair. The broad shoulders, wide-footed stance gave him away as a man. Hinata squinted. The person was trying to wash off dark splotches that covered his entire outfit. Blood. The metallic smell reached her nose, and she couldn't suppress the sharp exhale and wrinkling of her nose. His head snapped over to her and she froze. A crow mask covered his face. _Anbu_. Her eyes widen involuntarily and her breathing became shallower. Though members of Anbu are purported to be elite ninja whose purpose is to protect Konoha under the Hokage, Hinata knew better than to think that they would do her no harm. Their top priority is their mission, and should she have compromised it in any way, there is no question that she would be dealt with accordingly.

"Hyuuga-san." He acknowledged her, but she remained immobile. Unable to move, unable to speak. The silence suddenly weighed heavy on her.

"Hello." She whispered hoarsely.

He could tell she had forced the words out of her throat with much effort. Forced them out of her delicate, pale throat. He wondered what it would look like as it snapped under the pressure of his fingers. Would it appear just as feminine? It was surprising that anyone would be in the area at this hour, much less the Hyuuga heiress. While the pale complexion and the stark whiteness of her eyes were reasonable indicators of her heritage, it was the long, midnight blue locks that left him without a doubt of her status. Only the heiress of the clan diverged from the standard brown locks customary to Hyuuga clan-members. Though the lack of light made it hard to see, a tint of blue still reflected off the top of her head, which was currently tousled to give her a wild appearance. She looked like a startled animal.

"It is late. You should be sleeping." Though his voice was quiet, it was firm. There was no mistaking the command in his words. But Hinata remained still. Her instincts screamed for her not to turn her back to this man.

Seeing the resistance, the Anbu slowly took off his mask to reveal pale skin, a delicate but high nose, and blaring red and black eyes. "You should sleep."

Hinata didn't remember closing her eyes, or collapsing on the ground. She did not recall the man's arms sliding under her arm, under her knees. She opened her eyes groggily, drowned in her covers, feeling as though she had woken up from an odd dream. Or weirder still, that she had woken in a dream.

* * *

She can't help herself staring on his bright smile, examining the lines resembling cat whiskers on his face. In her dark world, he was the opposing sun. She'd felt the gravity of him since her youth, barely recognizing then how her shadowed Earth started to revolve around him. She knows now, but it's too late to change anything. She's gotten so used to the warmth of his presence; it's not something she could see herself giving up. A faint blush rises to her face when she realizes she'd been looking at him for too long. She tilts her head forward to hide behind the cascade of her dark, silk hair.

Naruto rarely noticed her lingering gaze but the sharp-eyed Uchiha sure did. He scoffed quietly, wondering how so much foolishness could have taken root in the heiress of a powerful family, such as the Hyuugas. _What a waste_ , he thinks, _that a girl swayed so heavily by orange jumpsuits and profound stupidity will one day lead them._

" Hinata!" Kiba yelled, startling them all. "Come with me. We need to go see Shikamaru." He grabbed her by the shoulders and started to steer her in the direction of the village center.

"Wh-what's going on?" She said, more than a little caught off guard by Kiba's energy.

"He just came back from the Land of Water in the east, and he brought a delicacy back for Choji. If we don't hurry, the bastard will eat it all without us." Kiba said with a sense of urgency.

Hinata frowned. "Bu-but Shikamaru brought it back for Choji. Why are we trying to eat it?"

The confused frown on Hinata's face turned to one of dissatisfaction. She had worked hard on getting rid of that stuttering habit of hers from her childhood. It was embarrassing for a princess to spill words like a 5 year-old spilled milk from a cup. But sometimes when she was caught off guard and wasn't careful, her tongue would trip over itself – muscle memory, she was sure.

Testing her words out on the tip of her tongue before she said them, Hinata inquired, "Does this have anything to do with Ino?" Two weeks ago, Akamaru had wandered into the Yamanaka gardens without anyone knowing. Ino had discovered him peeing all over a patch of flowers, and trampling over others. In an all too predictable fashion, she lost her cool and literally kicked the clueless dog out of the flowerbeds. Kiba, hot headed as he was, had been picking fights with Ino ever since – this was an obvious ploy to upset her through her teammates. Hinata felt sorry for poor Choji.

Kiba grinned back, baring his teeth. "I don't know what you could be talking about. Now let's go."

"Hey, what's this I hear about food?" A bright-eyed blonde bound over to them. "You know, I could never give up Ichiraku Ramen but I have been eating there an awful lot lately. I'll come along!"

Hinata chocked on air. He was so _close_ she could smell the citrus scent of his soap. Without her permission, blood rushed to her cheeks as they warmed. Her tense body immediately turned herself away from the blue-eyed boy, and she tried to keep as still as possible, as if hoping he wouldn't notice her there. It was like a scene you'd see when a bear stumbles into the path of the villagers; they would stand as still as possible, avoiding eye contact yet still being all too aware of the bear's movements until it passed.

"Are you okay, Hinata?" Naruto sounded concerned.

"Yes," she answered in a flustered voice. "I'm fine."

Naruto was much easier to fool than a bear so upon hearing this, he smiled easily and turned his attention back to Kiba. "Okay, well let's go get food."

Suddenly, he turned as if remembering Sasuke was still there. "C'mon teme."

Sasuke glared at his jubilant friend, before giving a firm "No, thanks."

Hinata smiled weakly at Kiba. "I'm actually feeling like heading home. I have to get through some scrolls before my fathers return on the solstice." In truth, she just didn't want to get involved in the feud with Ino. Though it meant she would have to give up time with Naruto. Slightly torn inside, Hinata still decided it was best to sit this excursion out. She didn't want to get on the Yamanaka's bad side.

"Awww, Hinata. C'mon. Who wants to sit around and read scrolls all day? And you can always do it later. I'm sure you haven't eaten yet." Narutos voice was pleasantly rough. There was a certain gruffness that always made Hinata weak in the knees. This time was no exception.

"Um…"

Sasuke was thoroughly annoyed. The woman had no backbone. _Pathetic_. Tucking his hands into the pockets of his pants, he walked away from the scene.

* * *

Hinata was heading home in a hurry. She stayed out later than she had intended. Kiba, Naruto, and her had paid Choji a visit on the training grounds across from the academy. He had been sitting in the dirt, decidedly not training but portioning out pink pieces of meat –at least, that's what Hinata had thought it most resembled – into bento boxes.

"Oi," Kiba called out. His canine grin was back. "What have you got there, Choji?"

The larger boy looked up at the newcomers. "Oh, it's you guys."

"Shikamaru brought by this preserved meat from the Land of Water. It's called SPAM. It doesn't look like meat to me but man, is it good."

"What are you doing with it?" Naruto said peering over Kiba's should into the bento boxes.

"Oh, I'm trying to make something with it. I guess you could called it onigiri."

"Looks good. Can I try some?" Kiba reached over and conveniently grabbed the box with Ino's name on it. And before Choji could utter a word of protest, Kiba started wolfing down the seaweed wrapped rice and meat. Naruto didn't skip a beat, and immediately joined Kiba.

Had the two been eating Choji's portion, the situation would have turned out very differently, but as it was, the pudgy ninja stared a few seconds before shrugging his shoulders and stacking the rest of the bento boxes on top of one another.

"Wait Hinata, you haven't had any. Here." Naruto took a piece of onigiri and shoved it in Hinata's face as if to feed her. The blush came back full force, and Hinata swore Naruto could probably feel the heat drifting off her face.

"Uuh…" And before she could think up of an appropriate response, he had popped the rice ball between her pink lips. With no other choice than to chew, Hinata muttered a faint "Arigato." She had sworn she was going to faint any minute.

Thinking back on the event made Hinata blush again as she trudged down the dirt road to the compound. A slim satisfaction found it's way into her chest. Naruto had brushed her lips with his fingers when he fed her. Secretly, she wondered what he would have done if she had forgone the rice ball, and wrapped her lips around his finger. She decided that one-day, she would find out.

The heiress' arrival back at the compound was not received well by Neji.

"Where have you been?" She flinched inwardly at the sound of his monotone voice.

"I was with Kiba and Na-naruto…" A silence hung between them.

Neji sighed lightly. She was hopeless when it came to Naruto. No doubt that's why she stayed out so late. He thought the blonde was extremely good-natured, and Neji was certain the boy only had good intentions, but he was incredibly stupid and Neji thought his cousin deserved better than a _stupid_ boy. There was no way to describe it – Neji Hyuuga held Naruto in the highest respects. The boy was a great ninja, there was no doubt about that. But something about picturing Hinata with Naruto made him twitch. She was so soft, and timid, and kind and he was loud, and obnoxious, and… stupid. So very stupid.

"You should go to your room and get ready for bed." He said, not feeling like lecturing her tonight.

"Hm." Hinata voiced her agreement and scurried off to prepared for sleep.

* * *

It was a full moon that night, and the light shone bright in Hinata's room. She laid awake, eyes wide open. Nighttime made her restless. She twisted in her bed, full of unease and energy. It was like being a stagnant river that missed the rushing movement of a bubbling stream. A thought stuck in her mind to leave the bed and go explore the forest - _immerse yourself in the world_ , it seemed to whisper and for some reason, this didn't seem as absurd a suggestion to Hinata, who laid swathed in sheets, as it would have just hours before, when the dying sun was in the midst of sinking behind the landscape. Gingerly, Hinata stepped out of bed, out of her room, down the halls, and out the doors and just like she had done the night before, she headed for the forest.

A passing thought flickered in her mind that this walk seemed strangely familiar, but the night woke up something wild inside of her, and eased her inclination for caution. She quickened her pace, enjoying the crunch of the branches under her feet and the feeling of stepping on tree roots, and soft grass. Her hair flew wildly around her and she giggled silently thinking how she must have looked like a madwoman scrambling through the woods. This was a different Hinata from the one in daylight. Her movements were airy, she stood taller, her eyes brighter. Had someone stumbled on her now, they would have mistaken her for a close relative of the Hyuuga princess. She laid in the clearing again, just as she had the night before, feeling the air move in and out of her chest. Any resistance to sleep disappeared with the cool breeze of the late summer night, and she tacitly gave herself up to her dreams.

At the edge of the forest, hidden within the leafy treetops, crouched the crow Anbu. He was silent, still, the face behind the mask a perfect stone cold porcelain expression. Eyes gazed at the sleeping girl, her midnight hair spread out around her, caressing her slender arms, her soft cheeks, and her jarring collar bones. The wonder of how it would feel to break those collar bones, crush it beneath his hand, lashed out in his mind; it was there then gone within a blink of the eye, but it's departure left an imprint in his mind. It gnashed into his conscience, and disturbed the quiet recesses where his _self_ laid, but did not surprise him. What could he expect, having worked to cultivate instincts to hurt and wound and kill for the past 20 years of his life.

Soundless leaping down to rest next to the sleeping princess, he brushed the hair back from her face and trailed along the flesh of her neck. It would have looked affectionate, had the shake of his hands on her skin not given away the effort he put into making sure he _didn't_ squeeze his fingers around her throat until her lungs burned out.

* * *

 _I feel like this read so much better on Microsoft Word on my laptop. Let me know what you thought by REVIEWING :) :)_


	2. Chapter 2

_I'm sorry for the long wait, but so many obligations came up in the last little while and I've been so tired that I hadn't really had time to churn out the second chapter. I may be coming back to edit it because I am sure there are mistakes, but it's late and I'm tired and I just want you guys to have the next chapter and give me your thoughts. I won't lie, I'm moving slowly right now but I promise it will pick up soon._

 _No Itachi in this chapter - or is there? - but he will show up again in due time._

 _Again, I would love to get some feedback. You're all the best! Enjoy._

 _Edited 05/14/2017_

* * *

Seemingly out of nowhere, a kunai shot through the misty air. Hinata deflected it with her own kunai just in time, but this left her open for the onslaught of punches that came her way. Grunting in pain, she rolled to avoid any more fists landing on her body.

Activating her Byakugan, she got on her feet and lunged to the right and swung her left leg across to kick the arms of her attacker out from under them. Neji barely faltered as he landed flat on his feet before throwing out a series of open palm hits. Hinata blocked every one, moving back, and ducking with each movement of Neji's arms in her direction. And then she felt it. The uneven wall of the wooden house hit her back, and she had nowhere to run. Squaring off against her cousin, she knew she would lose if she couldn't disable him in the next few moments.

It wasn't a situation in which she could use her gentle fist as she was cornered with little space. Her aim would be off if she attempted the technique, and without accuracy, her attack would be next to useless.

"Eight trigrams, sixty four palms." Neji beat her to it.

Pain flooded her body, and Hinata found herself lying on the ground.

Neji bent down next to his fallen cousin. "You're excellent at defense, Hinata, but you can only run for so long."

"The minute you couldn't run anymore, you lost. " His voice was a perfect tone of composed masculinity. Not a syllable wavered. "You never attack me offensively, even when you have the perfect opportunity."

The gentle mist now contained the occasional fat droplet of rain Hinata noticed as her face laid in the dirt and she breathed with heaving breaths.

"Thank you for letting me know, nii-san." Neji frowned. The words were so feminine, and soft, and so very Hinata but they lacked emotion. He was noticing that she had taken to speaking in this manner more and more. Her words were suddenly so empty, and he wondered why she had stopped caring.

"Of course," He said, keeping his voice even. "It looks like it's going to rain. We should head back in."

The Huuyga princess didn't move from her splayed position on the ground. "You go first, nii-san. I'll follow soon." Again, that tone that held nothing.

Uneasily, Neji walked towards the eaves of the compound and headed in after throwing one last look at Hinata. His expression remained calm as always, but his eyes were anxious. He was watching something break inside of his cousin, but he couldn't pinpoint what it was.

Hinata could feel the frequency of the fat droplets increase as they hit her exposed skin, and wet her clothes. The ache of the fight was still working it's way through her body, but she didn't get up and head towards the medic nin waiting for her in the compound. Instead, she rolled her shoulders lightly, moved her legs, and clenched her abdomen. A searing pain flared up as she contorted her injuries – all internal at this point – and she bit her tongue and smiled a mockery of a smile. It started off bitter, jaded, but twisted itself into a saccharine caricature before fading. It was unnerving.

Managing to sit up cross-legged, Hinata stretched her arms above her head and her body responded with anger. Hinata ground her teeth together, and continued the movement of her body. There was a dark pleasure that she got from enduring the screams of her nerves. It was her way of telling herself that she could endure. By now, a downpour had started and wetness seeped through her lavender and beige jacket, and her black training pants.

* * *

"What the hell happened to you?" Kiba yelled when Hinata showed up at his house the next night.

She hadn't allowed the medic nin to fully heal her yesterday. Though out loud Hinata had voiced that her injuries weren't bad enough to require so much of the medic's attention and had lightly ushered herself out of her bedroom before the other woman could say a word, in reality she had wanted the marks from her training to stay with her. She wanted proof of her loss to Neji to stay with her. It had been a while since she had been beaten that badly and she wanted something visceral to remind her of defeat.

If heavily inquired about, Hinata likely would have explained the bruises away as motivational memories pushing her to train hard and push forward, but she knew there was more to it than that. The green and yellow splotches, specked with purple, branded her defeat on her body; they etched her shame, punishment, and incompetence into flesh. She used to put so much effort into hiding these marks - it was a sharp reminder to her that everyone knew she was lacking ( _as a shinobi, as a daughter, as a Hyuuga_ ) and whenever someone's gaze would linger on her bruised skin, she couldn't help flinching. But in the past few weeks, she had started choosing to wear them like a banner, the discoloration contrasting starkly against her paleness. In the back of her mind, a tiny voice asked if she wore them in defiance or as a perverted notion of self-punishment.

But for now, the heiress smiled sweetly back at Kiba and reassured him. "It's nothing to worry about. I was just training with Neji yesterday."

"That bastard." He growled.

Again, Hinata simply smiled. "It's okay Kiba. I needed the practice."

Kiba huffed in resignation. "Fine. Let's get going."

They were headed to Konoha's hospital to visit Shino who was currently under medical watch in the restorative care wing of the building. Their last mission, which seemed easy enough initially, had been to solve the kidnapping of political leader's daughter in a nearby village. But as luck would have it, their mission led them to encounter a band of rogue nin in the area, who were more than eager to take a shot at slicing off the chunins' heads as soon as they realized the trio were leaf shinobi. While the rogue ninja were eventually defeated, it came at the cost of complete chakra depletion for Shino, which greatly upset the symbiosis inherent with his kikaichu.

The halls of the hospital were lit with an unnatural too-bright light that cast everything in a slight yellow-green tinge. The air was smelled sterile and slightly stagnant giving off the ironic impression that the place bore no life, only a suffocating stillness that was interrupted by the pair's clacking footsteps. It was late, but Hinata had rarely seen the place so empty. A feeling of wariness swept over the kunoichi.

Upon entering Shino's room, the two Team 8 members found the final member of their trio deeply unconscious just as he had been during their previous visits. The medical ninja had explained that while chakra depletion is easily overcome with proper rest sped along with basic healing jutsus, the Aburame were a special case. Unlike others, they would need to recover enough chakra for themselves and millions of other little creatures that reside in their body. The rest and relaxation that was ordered for other shinobi who experienced a drained storage of chakra became an inconvenient coma-like state for the bug-wielders whose restored chakra would be distributed to their insects first. _This really slows down the replenishment_ , the medic had said, _because the process occurs almost exponentially. As you regain chakra, it becomes easier and easier for your body to create more._ Hinata and Kiba had been coming to see their teammate for the past couple of days in the hopes that he would awaken, but it seemed to be that Shino had been pushed past his limit in that last fight.

Hinata stared at the collected expression on her teammate's face. It was the same stone mask he wore when awake. The boy never gave himself away to vulnerability, even when knocked out, she remarked. And with a poorly stifled giggle, she pictured her stoic friend unconscious in the hospital bed with drool dripping from his open mouth as he remained in his dreamless sleep. Kiba glanced over with eyebrows knitted together in confusion, as he questioned her silently with his eyes, not wanting to be kept out of the fun.

"I forgot to buy flowers." She realized. The room was utterly depressing with its large brick walls painted over with a slightly nauseating mint green, and lack of windows. Biting down lightly on the tip of her tongue, Hinata decided that this wouldn't do; he needed something alive in here. "I think the store downstairs is still open. I'll be back." And with flip of her hair, she walked out of the room leaving Kiba to stare cluelessly at his sleeping teammate. In all honesty, Kiba didn't really know what to do without Hinata in the room to keep him company, so he sat in the plastic hospital chair with Akamaru seated by his feet, and they both waited patiently for the Huuyga to return.

Walking down the sickly hallway, the feeling of suspicion steadily grew as Hinata failed to encounter a single person. Unease weaved its way into Hinata's movements. She had not thought to bring any form of weapons with her to the hospital. Turning left, she headed towards the floor's west wing. A genjutsu was installed by the doors leading inwards to the patient rooms; a simple thing meant to discourage visitors by planting a subtle suggestion that the person not enter, and go somewhere else. Training with Kurenai-sensei had its benefits, and being able to spot basic illusions was one of the most useful. With a flick of her hands, Hinata dispelled the mind trick just long enough to pass through.

Curiosity had been getting the better of her these days, and though she knew she shouldn't been snooping in secret affairs, she was starting to develop a bad habit of doing things her mind told her not to. Like how she had been sleeping in a meadow for the past week, and how she had come home one morning to find her father waiting for her outside her bedroom. Without so much as a word to her, he had taken in her knotted hair, wet with morning dew, and her skin that stained with rolling in dandelions and smelled of grass and dirt. "You are too unsteady to lead." He had said, before turning his cold dark eyes from his daughter and walking away. She had stood there, left with the unsavory taste of shame and guilt in her mouth, and wondered why she had let herself set foot outside of the compound whenever the silver glint of the moon rolled through the windows.

Low, hushed voices were heard in further room on the left. Treading softly and keeping in mind to hide her chakra signature, Hinata strained her ears to hear. The occasional stream of conversation was intelligible, but the door muffled the words, and all she could clearly make out was the tension in the room.

" _You can't expect… he won't… forgive you or …."_ A male voice, tight with anxiety.

" _..nothing I could do…where were you?..."_ Another male, angry, pleading, desperate.

The door flew open without warning to reveal someone dressed in all black, sword strapped to his back, with a porcelain mask of an ox firmly on his face. Hinata held in her breath as her eyes widen with surprise.

"Well, what do we have here? Someone stupid enough to walk past our jutsu." The anbu towered over her, and she quickly rescinded from the threatening figure.

It was then Hinata realized the simple mind trick was not meant to capture shinobi in its grasps; it was to serve as a warning to those skilled enough to understand, and deterred those who did not notice its presence.

"Careful." The other anbu said from inside the room. "She's a Huuyga."

With those words, the man in front of her stiffened. His demeanor changed from one of intimidation to one of forced respect. Clan politics still reigned in the village, though in a diminished fashion from older years. The Huuygas were a proud, noble breed, respected for their power and notable kekkei genkai. Even now, no one went around antagonizing a Huuyga clan member, especially one from the main house.

Though the academy taught Anbu as the end-all power position before becoming Hokage, or a council member, the textbooks never quite catch the subtleties of the position, and the subtleties are what matter. They're like thin wisps of translucent thread weaving around you with every move you make. You feel no resistance as you move in the direction it wants you to – but the moment you break off, sidestep into the unknown, the threads reign you in and force you to remain on the path it provides, lest you risk being shredded to pieces by those thin, sharp subtleties. The nuanced whispers of never provoking a powerful clan such as the Huuygas were like wind passing through a willow tree, willing you to listen to its soft command.

"My apologies Huuyga-san," the tone was tight, and only sincere in conveying his caution. "But you should not be here."

Willing herself to be confident, Hinata made a conscious movement to straighten her back, and say steadily but softly, "And what is here, Anbu-san?"

The man grunted. "I am sorry Huuygan-san but that is not in your privilege to know." And swiftly, he made a move to close the door in her face. The slam of the door echoed in the empty hallway.

"Byakuugan." A silent whisper.

The chakra outlines of each man in the room shone bright through the now seemingly paper-thin walls. The anbu who had engaged her at the door was storming to the other side of the room, where his comrade stood. A heated discussion seemed to be taking place; their bodies were at odds, all twisted gestures and tense muscles and stilted movements. In the hospital bed next to them lay a figure. Hinata grimaced as a wave of mild disgust spread through her. He was badly injured, evident by the way his one arm laid at an unnatural angle to his body, and the minute flow of chakra through his networks which pooled by his lungs and lower abdomen. Broken ribs, punctured lungs, stabbed through the intestines, Hinata surmised.

The man turned slightly so his head was angled towards her, and Hinata saw the gathering of chakra in two hollows of his skull. It was the distinct signature of the Sharingan. An Uchiha.

And then she felt it. Snapping her head up, a irrational wave of fear washed over her and she broke out in a cold sweat. How had she missed the fourth chakra signature in the room, she asked herself in a panic. Impossible. It stood out now, spread its presence throughout the small space, and towered over Hinata. Startled, she took an instinctive step back to distance herself from this feral chakra, and _those eyes._

Those eyes tore through her with predatory intentions. It couldn't be helped when Hinata's heart raced and her skin broke out in goosebumps, as a second pair of Sharingan orbs bore into her own milky pearls through the hospital walls.

* * *

She tripped over her feet as she rushed home that night after saying goodbye to Kiba. Cursing her bad luck, her first instinct as she fell forwards was to grab hold of the solid fixture in front of her for support. The fixture's first instinct was to let her fall, but instead, he landed both hands on her hips to steady the stumbling girl.

Looking up at man, she almost screamed. If the Sasuke was startled by her reaction, he hid it well.

"Hyuuga-san." He greeted coolly, as he righted her on her feet. His sharp eyes noted the bruising on her cheek, above her eyebrow, and down her neck, which disappeared in the tan jacket she tried to hide in.

She was shaking ever so slightly, but attempted her calm herself. "Sa-sasuke-kun. Please. Call me Hinata."

"Hinata-san." He amended. His face displayed no interest in conversation, but her hands firmly grasped the front of his cotton shirt so he had no choice but to stand there, waiting for her long, slender fingers to let go.

But she didn't let go. In fact, she didn't even seem to notice her iron-hold on him as she looked at him in a manner that was reminiscent of an antelope, caught in the gaze of a panther. It was almost comical how she locked eyes with him while her muscles of her body seemed to grow rigid, like a corpse, as if thinking that he might not notice her if she just stood still, even as she held him close.

"Hinata." He said again, this time a touch of ironic amusement in his thin voice. With hands that were far too forceful to be delicate, but movements that were too thoughtful to be irate, he freed himself from her grasp.

Her cheeks flared a bright shade of red that flushed down her neck, and turned the skin covering her collarbones into heated pink flesh that prickled onto her chest. "My-my apologies, Sasuke." Bowing her head, the curtain of her hair fell around her face, hiding it from view.

"What happened to your face?" He asked without interlude.

She averted her eyes to the ground, and bit her bottom lip. "Anou, I … I was training."

"You were beat that badly?" He deadpanned.

The veil of her dark hair fell forwards to block her face from his view, but he could sense the embarrassment rolling off her.

"Ano, Neji is extremely skilled." She said with a hint of pride towards her cousin.

"Perhaps it is time for you to become more skilled." Sasuke replied sardonically.

Hinata flushed a deeper shade of red of one-part further embarrassment and two-parts anger.

"You-you're rude." She stuttered out. "I-I just... don't enjoy.. hurting people." She finished lamely.

Sasuke himself was taken-aback by his comment. Manners had been drilled into him from a young age. He wasn't the nicest person you could meet, but he was by no means ...rude. Until now. But what she had just said was ...

"Ridiculous. At least I'm not ridiculous." Being a shinobi wasn't about _hurting_ people, it was about _life_. Your life versus theirs. "What kind of a fool would rather let herself be hurt instead of learning to fight back." It was said mockingly, a jab that made a joke of her gentle heart.

"Good day, Uchiha-san." Hinata said, her head still cast down, but her voice was even and hard. Without sparing him a second glance, she skittered off.

"Hn." It was the most non-committal reply that could have been given, and one that Sasuke had picked up from his older brother. But looking at the Uchiha, one would argue that he was not so unaffected as his words would imply. Surprisingly, Sasuke's face held a light flush - damn his pale skin, he would think when he caught a glance of himself in a window reflection. Through all the years that Sasuke had known Hinata, and had decided not talked to her when not necessary, he had never seen her be anything but sweet and caring. Her meanest teases toward the Inuzuka were filled with mirth. She was anything but ruthless in battle - likely why she was put on a team meant for reconnaissance and back-up rather than frontal assault. There was even a rumour that she cried over enemy bodies once after having slit their throats.

Yet somehow, he'd manage to anger her enough in a 1-minute conversation that she actually insulted him and then ran away.

"I'm... not rude." He said to himself, feeling rather idiotic. Besides, she seems to like idiots as evident by her obsession with the dobe.

* * *

 _Obviously, a large deal of what shaped Sasuke into being the cold, ruthless ninja he turns into in the Naruto and Shippuden series has to do with the Uchiha massacre, which doesn't happen here. He doesn't have the same kind of life experiences behind him which would push him to develop into that same kind of character that he becomes in Naruto, so here, he's just your typical moody teenager who loves angst and is not quite as smooth as he would like to be._


	3. Chapter 3

_OK, I KNOW I'M SO UNRELIABLE AND AM THE WORST. SO RATHER THAN GIVE YOU ALL MY EXCUSES, THIS IS WHAT I HAVE TO SAY:_

 _I guess my email sends all the ff emails (except story updates! yayy) to junk or something because I didn't get half the reviews that were written but I was randomly deciding to read my reviews that other day that made me decide to start writing this again. I guess also, I'm a slightly perfectionist when it comes to things and I know that my writing isn't the best and there's a lot of grammar errors and I kind of got so tired of checking and editing and gave up, but I've decided eh, I'm just going to be horrible and publish chapters that have errors because my goal is to keep on writing and I'm not going to let editing get in my way (Lol, if someone wants to tell me how I would go about getting a beta, that would be swell)._

 _But yes, here is the next long over-due chapter. Notes: I gave up trying to understand when to use which honorific when, I edited the last two chapters too so there have been some changes in how the chapters play out, and there are some parts of this chapter that are meant to stay vague but I hope it's not overly confusing._

 _Please give me any constructive criticism you have! I'd love to learn and improve. Also, I'm not sure if this is moving too slow? I mean, it's not one of those stories where the plot is like BAM IN YOUR FACE, it's a story where I feel the mood and background of the character is more important and there are slower moving plots._

* * *

Cloudy, grey days made for bittersweet resonance with Hinata's mood. The cool chill of the brisk breeze penetrated even the thick layers of her soft-pink kimono and causes goosebumps to rise along the exposed skin of her forearms. It seemed best to her that her formal duties had fallen on the gloomiest days when she would have likely remained indoors regardless, and yet Hinata wished she could have taken advantage of the bad weather as an excuse to remain huddled in the warmth of her room with a pot of sencha tea and her thoughts. Instead, she was left shivering outside the door of the formal hall where the Hyuuga head entertained his guests and dined his political counterparts, and now where he convened with his daughter, the Hyuuga heiress. He had taken to request official meetings with Hinata each week so he could keep an eye on her progress and discuss anything that needed to be addressed. Taking a few deep breaths to steady herself, Hinata proceeded to rap her knuckles softly on the wooden frame in announcement her presence before.

"Father." She bows until her forehead touched on the wooden floor.

"Hinata." He greets, stone-cold as ever. Not a hint of emotion displayed by the aged-lines of his face.

Despite her preparations for this moment, Hinata felt as though her heart had dropped into the pit of her stomach. It thrashed violently and she could concentrate on nothing else. Meetings with her father were always precipitated by a surreptitious fear of the unknown and left her with a sour aftertaste that made it hard to swallow.

She sits on the tatami mat across from Hiashi, and sets out the teacups before pouring the steaming jasmine tea.

"How are you?" He asks coolly. This was merely a formality and Hinata knew better than to provide an honest answer.

"Well." She responds immediately. The swiftness of the reply did not beg questions. After all, this was the expected answer.

He nods in approval.

"The medics tell me that you have been getting headaches."

She can't even bring herself to be amused at the irony of the conversation. She's become desensitized to the contradictions that inherently result from formalities.

"Yes, sometimes. It's nothing to worry about father. The medicine has been helping." She reassures instinctively. What else is there to say in a relationship that expects independence and holds disdain for reliance.

"Good. It would not bode well for your abilities to be diminished by such tender malaise."

"Of course not. I'm sure it will pass."

"Perhaps if I have the chance to gain more rest in the coming days..," Hinata tests gingerly but stops short of fully verbalizing her desires.

She can never tell if her father is judging her, but she can always sense the disapproval.

"One day should be enough." He replies curtly.

Hinata lowers her gaze and sips her tea.

"Of course."

* * *

A wash of stars shine out from the vast sky above them. Some twinkle brightly in the deep space while others are dim in the background and running out of fuel. These are the entities that have watched humanity be born, explore in trepidation, grow in a flurry of blood and tears and that will ultimately watch it dwindle and die.

"If we are only one in a million, if we are truly a speck in the universe then does anything that we do matter?"

The tiniest tilt of his head at her question is the only sign that he's been paying any attention.

"That is a silly question."

She doesn't mean to but her lower lip extends in a pout. "But it's a common question. If it's silly, then why do so many people ask it?" She challenges.

"People are stupid." He answers. "I did not think to count you among them." He adds after a second.

"You and me, we are made up of the smallest of particles that interact and form larger and larger mass which produce larger and larger interactions until there's us. And we act, we interact with one another as people, as figures, as countries and finally, as ideals. Do you not think that matters?"

Her lips pucker to the side in thought. "But that's a conglomeration of many. What if one among the many was to diverge? And perhaps all this matters to us, but does it matter to the _universe_?"

"Who's to say one won't become the many?"

She pouts again. "Tachiii, that's not the point. That's not my question. You're twisting my question!"

"Maybe you don't even know what you're asking." He says with a hint of mirth.

"Maybe you don't know what you're saying," she mutters in displeasure. As if to emphasis her unhappiness, she crosses her arms and turns her body away from him in defiance. But she can only maintain that pose for so long and eventually ends up staring at the ends of her long locks and playing with the soft strands.

"Do I matter?" she asks after a while.

"That's for you to decide." Lithe vocals slide gracefully into her ear.

Her gaze shifts down to the grass. Her hands continue to twist her dark blue strands anxiously.

He sighs. "Hinata-chan," he lifts her head up with the tip of a gloved finger. "You do matter."

She smiles in spite of herself and blushes prettily -"You matter too Tachi." – and proceeds to bestow a glittering smile on the boy beside her.

* * *

A loud crash startled Hinata out of her reverie. It was the trunk of a tree blasted to pieces by a frustrated, bouncing blonde blob.

"Sasuke-teme! You're not even trying." The jinchuriki growled at his teammate. "How am I suppose to train when all you do is run and hide?"

"Shut it dobe." The dark-haired Uchiha grunted back in response. "I have other things on my mind. Not that you can even catch up to me. You should really work on that if you want to become the Hokage some day." He sneered out the word 'Hokage' in a manner that was uncharacteristic even for Sasuke who was known for his less-than-pleasant moods.

"You've got some nerve- " Naruto started but was cut off by Sakura who shove him backwards.

"Sasuke, what's wrong? Even I've noticed that you're…" she hesitated. "Not yourself."

The pink-haired kunoichi stared up at her teammate in earnest. Long gone were the days when Sakura would flounce about and try to attract Sasuke's attention and approval, but she still held a flame for the brooding Uchiha in her heart and it refused to be put out, only tempered to exist as a steady candle rather than the blazing bonfire of the past. Much like herself, Hinata thought, though she had always been much too shy to display her feelings so openly. And like Naruto, Sasuke didn't notice – perhaps didn't care, like Naruto – the fierce affection that his female teammate carried for him. This much was evident as he walked past her without a glance in her direction to even acknowledge that she had spoke.

"W-wait!" She called after him. "Sasuke, tell me what's wrong." Her hand grappled at his shoulder and he shirked away from her touch.

"I'm not in the mood Sakura." He grinds the words out evenly.

"I'm your teammate Sasuke! Tell me what's bothering you. You don't always have to keep these things to yourself. Let us help you."

Sasuke shoots her a glare, but Sakura has become immune to their chilling effects. She's seen too many of them from the sullen boy.

"Just how do you think you're going prevent Shisui from dying." He hisses out. Evidently, Sakura had not been expecting that as she blanched at his words.

A puzzle piece fell in place. "Was that who I saw at the hospital?" Hinata whispered to herself.

Sasuke's eyes snapped over to her instantly and she froze. He couldn't possibly have heard me, she thinks to herself. I'm all the way on the other side of the field. Yet in the next instant, he towered above her and blocked the sun from view so all she could see was the menacing Uchiha cast in shadow.

"What did you say?" The words dug into Hinata like tiny, sharp knives. She could feel the anger behind them even after they finished being said.

"I…uhh…"

She was practically whimpering under his glare. Breaths were coming in fast and sharp. She hated disapproval, it made her squirm and gave her an itch under her skin that she would scratch raw if given the chance. She wanted to disappear under his gaze. Why had she even come? Oh, that's right – so she could be near Naruto under the guise of sparring with Sakura. Perhaps she was being punished.

But then she remembered her last encounter with Sasuke, and a small flare of indignation sparked in her chest.

"Don't – Don't come here demanding I answer your questions and-and acting all …scary." She huffed at him. "You have no right!"

He grabs her by the wrist. "Come with me." He's dragging her along while she tries desperately to snatch her hand away.

"Hey! Teme! What are you doing to Hinata!" The blonde comes barreling up to them and grabs the arm that has a hold on her. They're in an odd triangle of arm-holding – almost, Hinata just needs to grab onto Naruto to complete the formation. It's a staring match between the two boys with Hinata feeling caught in the middle as her glances shift between the two of them, both breathing heavily with pent-up frustration.

"Naruto." The soft whisper of his name snaps the two boys out of their silent fight.

"Naruto." This time it's Sasuke who says his friend's name in an eerily calm manner. "Don't you think Hinata looks pretty today?" The Uchiha reputation for being cunning was well warranted. It was as though a switch had been flicked and the combative tension suddenly dissolved into a casually uncomfortable atmosphere.

The blonde blushes lightly and scratches his head. "Oh, well, yeah, I mean, sure she does." He laughs awkwardly.

Meanwhile, Hinata has turned into a kettle. She could feel the steam coming off the top of her head as a deep flush rises to her face. All she can hear is the pounding of blood in her ears. Please, she thinks, let me be anywhere but here right now. Perhaps that is why she does not protest this time when Sasuke tells Naruto he needs to speak with her for a minute, and tugs her towards a more reclusive area at the edge of the training grounds. Undoubtedly, that was part of Sasuke's plan all along.

Sasuke thinks Hinata's legs must have turned into blocks of wood from the way she trudges behind him stiffly. He grunts in annoyance but doesn't say anything until the two of them stand at the very edge of the field as demarked by the line of trees that begin to thicken back into a forest.

"Hinata."

Her head moves to look up at him, and he is surprised to be caught off-guard by the expression on her face. The tension by her temples give Sasuke the impression that her eyes are narrowed ever so slightly, and the corners of her lips have started to pull down. She could be described as angry, except he doesn't think he's ever seen her angry so it's hard to tell for sure. In fact, he wonders if anyone has ever seen her angry at anyone other than herself.

"That was mean, " slips out of Hinata's mouth before she can think her words through, but she has the sense to bite her lip in an attempt to stop from looking horrified. Although her long-time crush on Naruto was not the best-kept secret, a small part of Hinata still thought of it was secretive knowledge. It was only to be talked about in hushed tones, in private, or at least behind her back for goodness sake, and definitely not _right in front of him_! And while fairly hopelessly, Hinata continued to think that perhaps not everyone knew. It was still a secret, which meant surely some people weren't privy to the knowledge! So while she would not be surprised if Sasuke knew about her crush, a part of her still felt as though her words were omission of a previously unknown piece of knowledge to him.

She was angry that he'd tried so hard to embarrass her before, but now she was doubly mad that he'd made her admit her secret. Hinata felt dazed – being angry with someone and expressing it was so foreign to her and in this case, she had multiple reasons for her anger. Where does she even start dealing with this?

"Well maybe if you didn't squirm so much the first time, I wouldn't have had to do that." Sasuke said trying to hide the tidbit of guilt he was feeling.

Her lack of reply maintained a heavy silence between the two, which Sasuke broke by grunting.

"You said you saw someone in the hospital?" He muttered.

"Yes. I was visiting Shino."

"Oh." What was the right thing to say without sounding like an uncaring jerk? "How is he?"

"He's still there." But Sasuke didn't really care.

"Did you see someone else?"

She fidgeted. "No. Not really."

His eyes narrowed. "You did."

She won't look at him. "I wasn't suppose to…"

"Yes, well no one is suppose to know Shisui is in the hospital." He sighs. She's taken aback that he gave away such a vital piece of information if no one was suppose to know.

"What happened?" Hinata asks timidly. She's not sure if it's her place to inquire.

"I'm… not suppose to say." Sasuke admits causing Hinata to grace him with a tiny smile. At least that's some form of truth.

* * *

Did beauty still exist when it couldn't be seen? The anbu pondered as he stroked the sleeping princess' petal-soft cheek. Strands of her dark hair lay tangled across her slim neck, down to her heaving chest that moved with each breath.

He remembers his mother stroking his face after tucking him in to bed in his childhood. When had that affectionate gesture become so perverted? When it had come to mean the same as the gentle hand that stroked a lamb before the slaughter? His finger ran a line down her neck to feel her pulse, that constant pumping of blood through her veins that teased him.

The hunter sat with the prey in the grassy field, under the light of the moon. An odd sight it must have been to see. Yet the crickets chirped on and the bubbling stream continued to run its steady course.

* * *

 _I was hoping to make this chapter longer but then I'm like nahh, I just want reviews because I'm greedy hehe. Also, I find reviews helps give me a fresh take on how I should be writing._


	4. Chapter 4

_I'm curious how long it takes other authors to write out a good few thousand words. This took me so long because I spend most of the time thinking and thinking, and I started this in the morning, and now it's night, and it's not even that many words which is a little discouraging and makes me wonder what I'm doing wrong._

 _But yes, here we go._

 _Post: June 3, 2017 (11:41 pm)_

 _Edit: June 4, 2017 (9:31 pm) - I honestly should edit my work before I post it but I get carried away with just wanting to PUT IT OUT THERE ALREADY. Minor things changed, mostly my inability to use grammar._

* * *

The bruises that littered her body were a damn shame. It was not uncommon for a shinobi to be marked, to have at least one battle mark on their body that ached from violence, but hers were numerous and constant and self-inflicted. He'd told her to seek out a medic, to let them heal her, that was their job, that was _her_ job as a shinobi – to be fit for missions at all time when possible – but she'd stubbornly refused. He wondered if that wasn't his own doing, if perhaps he had missed the mark when he spoke words of encouragement to her. He had told her to be resolute in her self – was this its bitter fruit?

"I'm just not as good as they are. That's why I'm training so that one day, I can be equally skilled." She said, engaging in a conversation they brushed by so many times previously, neither knowing whether to delve deeper. Tonight was different. Her eyes were half-moons in the wash of reflected light.

"Your lack of skill is less from lack of technique and more from lack of drive. You hesitate far too much. You must steel yourself from hesitation to make yourself strong. When you fail to attack, it is not your skills that prevent you, it is your resolve."

"And what is my resolve for?" She responded. "To kill? To harm? That is merely means to an end. What do I value enough that I could harm without hesitation, without asking myself if what I do causes more good than harm."

"Yourself." He said coolly. His naturally cool-tone has taken on an icy edge, whether intentional or not she wasn't sure.

A calm breeze ruffled the ends of her hair so that they flew behind her, causing her to look down at her lap and tuck her chin down. She felt exposed. Her legs splayed out to her side, each bent at sharp angle.

"I am not the centre of the world."

"You should be the centre of your world… at least a centre. The others have managed, we all have. That is how we live. You are too afraid to wound, to offend. Do you value yourself so little?" His dark eyes held her pale ones, and she found herself immobile under his intense gaze. It made her uncomfortable to look away.

"There has never been anyone to value me any more than I do myself." She declared softly, one-part flaring in indignation, one-part resentful at him and his judgment, and one-part drowning in the ocean of herself.

* * *

The dull ache against her skull never seemed to leave her these days. It had become a constant companion that left her feeling unfocused and agitated. The days were sluggish in their passing even as Hinata felt that hour melted into hour from dawn to dusk, and when she lay in bed at night, she could not properly grasp where the day had gone or what she had accomplished.

Kiba had urged her to visit a medic outside of the compound for a second opinion, but Hinata had not seriously entertained the idea until Shino began to voice the same suggestion. She knew that Kiba meant well but he had a tendency towards the dramatic and rash whereas Shino rarely told her to do anything unless he deemed it necessary and important. Being bedridden at the hospital as he was, Hinata decided she would make an appointment with one of the doctors and go see Shino all in one visit. It made the idea of a formal medical examination somehow more palatable.

"Wait here." She was led to a bland room with only an examination table and a counter-top holding various medical instruments. Stains and dark streaks dirtied the light-beige walls Hinata noticed once she sat facing the back end of the room, the wall only a step away from her face.

She sat there twiddling her thumbs, chipping away the red lacquer on her nails that Ino had brushed on weeks ago. Looking at the worn state of the paint, she wished that she hadn't conceded so easily to Ino's request. As soon as the first crack had shown up, the red polish had been nothing but highlight how dirty and unkept Hinata's nails were. But Ino has been persistent and immune to reason, and they didn't know each other well enough for Hinata to protest further without feeling rude, although Ino seemed too comfortable crossing that threshold. The only times Hinata ever saw Ino were at the Konoha 12 gathering. All she had to do was get through that night. Giving in had been too easy.

The minutes ticked by in the examination room and soon, Hinata began to wonder how much longer she should wait before just leaving. After a few minutes' consideration, she opened the door to the hallway, and stuck her head outside slowly. There was no one to be seen. Hesitantly, Hinata contemplated if how viable an option it would be to depart while no one was around – but what would happen when they eventually got around to her room and she wasn't inside? Perhaps she could briefly tell a nurse that she had to go. She hadn't known the doctor would be so late to the appointment.

By this time, it was too late. A squeaking of plastic wheels, like those connected to wheelchair, could be heard reverberating in the connected hallway. It sounded like it was coming Hinata's way. But rather than a doctor, a small dark-haired woman appeared who seemed to be steering the front end of a mobile bed. It took a second before Hinata realized it was Shizune, the Hokage's assistant, because her back was to Hinata and she walked with backward steps down the hall. A great number of medical stands were simultaneously being pushed alongside the patient, which each held a bag of various IV fluid.

As for the patient himself, where he was not covered with the thin hospital blanket, he was covered in bandages. And where he was not covered in bandages, he was covered in scratches and scabs and wounds that were trying to heal. Hinata internally cringed – he must have experienced a tremendous amount of pain.

"Hinata!" A voice boomed out followed by a much shriller echo.

Startled, she locked eyes with a seemingly agitated Tsunade who appeared around the bend of the corridor as the patient bed was pushed closer to where she stood. At the head end of the bed was a man dressed fully in black. He was likely an ANBU officer but his mask was off in that moment to reveal a lightly tanned face shrouded by locks of brown hair that ended at the line of his prominent jaw.

"What are you doing here?" Hinata was thrown off by the tinge of accusation in the Hokage's voice.

"I have a doctor's appointment, Hokage-sama." She replied meekly, looking back into the room where she now wished she had stayed.

"Shizune!" The blonde woman turned her accusatory tone on her assistant.

"I was told no one was in the hall! Patients generally stay in their examination room!" Shizune said exasperatedly.

Hinata bit her lip and tried not to look as guilty as she felt. "I was just about to leave." She said unsteadily, unsure if she departing from the scene would be her best course of action.

"No, stay." The blonde yelled out sharply. "We'll figure out what to do with you after." After a moment's thought, she added, "You can help push the medical stands."

It was hard not to miss the flash of dark eyes from both Shizune and the ANBU but Tsunade ignored both. "Let's go."

The walk down the barren halls was excruciatingly silent for the poor kunoichi who desperately berated herself for straying from protocol and attempting to leave her room. This must be karmic retribution for not obeying orders. Why else would she find herself in this unbearably uncomfortable situation; being on the receiving end of multiple less-than-pleased glances from all three of her companions, the dark-haired female wished that she could magically fall down a hole in the ground that transported her to her bedroom. If only such transportation devices existed and were subject to her will.

The longer they all traversed through the hospital, the more isolated the area seem to be. While it appeared that care had been taken to vacate the hallways they passed through, it also did not escape Hinata's notice that they were traveling deeper and deeper to more secluded areas of the hospital that would rarely see people regardless. An involuntary shiver ran down her back. She knew that it was unlikely that Tsunade or Shizune would harm her in any manner, but she couldn't quite make herself feel safe. She wanted to speak out, and ask where exactly they were going and who was the patient, and what was going on, but Hinata was not bold – she knew this and kept her mouth shut.

Trying to be discrete, Hinata kept her head down and snuck glances at the patient. No identifying features could be discerned. The upper half of his head was wrapped in bandages that covered the expanse of his forehead down to the tip of his nose. Dried blood decorated the white coarse-thread gauze. His mouth was covered by an oxygen mask connected to a ventilator that Hinata wheeled in tandem to his mobile bed.

"Here," Shizune guided the foot of the patient bed into a care room at the beginning of the hallway that stemmed from a right turn. Hinata pushed the metal stands and tried to squeeze through the doorframe alongside the bed while the ANBU officer steered the front of the bed.

"Alright," Tsunade began as she followed into the room. "Install the security measures we discussed." She nodded to the ANBU who promptly bowed before disappearing.

"We can't afford to have any more damag-"

She was interrupted by a loud cough from Shizune who widened her eyes meaningfully before directing her gazes at Hinata pointedly.

The hokage breathed out an irritated sigh. "Well Shizune, since _someone_ did not ensure the coast was clear as they were suppose to" – at this Shizune blushed though the corners of her lips tightened perceptibly – "then we have two options. The first would be to erase her memories. Make her an appointment with Ibiki. The second would be to resolve this breach of security by a solution that does not involved erasing her memories, likely meaning she could provide some value to us in this dilemma. Either way, her overhearing this conversation would not matter. It'll either be wiped from her mind or necessary for her involvement."

Shizune bristled. "We can't just involve her without consultation of other members. And it's more than likely that we have more qualified individuals under our command, individuals with more training whose involvement in these types of matters would be better suited for our needs."

It was one thing to acknowledge your own faults, but it adds a whole new sting when someone else verbalizes your general inability. She tried not to but Hinata could not help be feel a growing bud of resentment towards the black-haired apprentice.

A long silence followed as the Tsunade and Shizune stared at one another in a wordless battle of wills. It didn't take much before Shizune looked away with a grimace. Tsunade was her master in the end. She could offer her suggestions, but she could not sway her will if it was set. In her mind, the minimal benefits of initiating the Hyuuga into the current situation were all outweighed by the costs. And not just any Hyuuga, but the heiress to the clan! What makes Tsunade think the woman will keep her mouth shut and not spill classified information to her clan when she could stand to benefit enormously if she played her cards right.

"What is going on?" Hinata finally asked, spurred on by displeasure at Shizune's words.

Tsunade flashed a hard look at Shizune, as if to communicate the finality of her decision, before turning to HInata.

"Do you know who this is?" She gestured to the patient.

Hinata shook her head but a strong urge to nod prickled in her mind. All she had to go on was the shock of dark hair that stood out against the bland white and beige of the hospital but …

"Now Hinata, are you a shinobi?"

"O-Of course, Hokage-sama."

"And where does a shinobi's loyalty lie?"

"With their village and Hokage."

"Where do you loyalties lie?"

"With… my village and with you, Hokage-sama."

"And what about your clan?"

Hinata bristled. "What about my clan?"

"Would you bow to them before your village and your Hokage?"

Hinata felt at a loss for words. Her body was burning up with anxiety of being put on the spot and asked to defend her integrity as a shinobi. What could she say? Why was she being asked to make this decision? The thrum of her brain became a mess of panic and any coherence she could have mustered was lost in the buzz of chaos.

"I…"

"If you were privy to information where no harm would come to your clan should they not know, but great benefit could be had if they were told, would you keep your mission private for the sake of the village?" Tsunade expounded. "Would you let personal gain take priority over personal responsibility?"

"Of course not." Hinata responded. She would not believe herself to be that kind of person.

"Good. I take that as your acceptance to help us untangle this medical conundrum." The Hokage tilted her head lightly towards the patient.

"This is Uchiha Shishui. Less than a week ago, he was assigned on a classified mission to Sunagakure when his team was ambushed. The other two members of his squad were injured as well but are in comparatively better condition than him. He's sustained numerous injuries, a large number of them internal, which is difficult enough to heal on their own but we've managed to patch up what damage we could. Our biggest problem lies in his chakra network."

Ah, so that's why Tsunade needs her. There could be no rival for the Byakugan when it came to understanding the intricacies of a person's chakra flow. But Shizune was right, there are other members of her clan far more advanced in the manipulation and detection of chakra lines and committed to the art of healing. In comparison, Hinata had the knowledge of a child. Being able to see chakra networks did not automatically make her privy to anything other than observation. A person who sees without knowing cannot begin to understand.

It doesn't matter. She wouldn't question her Hokage, both out of fear and respect. She would look at her task as a challenge. If she could learn to do what is necessary and succeed in being utile, this could be an opportunity to gain her father's begrudging approval. He could not deny her.

"We're not quite sure what happened. A lot of the attack is a mystery, but something triggered his Sharingan to activate and remain active. It's draining his chakra and slowly killing him. We've tried to mitigate the tremendous strain that's being placed on his body by his Sharigan with a constant dose of chakra-enhancing fluid but it can only do so much. It's impeding the healing of his wounds, any chakra transferred to him by a medic is mostly siphoned off by his bloodline, and his eyes… he may blind after this is over. He may be blind already." Tsunade said grimly.

"Individuals from the Uchiha household have volunteered to comb through the medical journals of our libraries, and archives of their own which describe their bloodline. A few potential interventions have been identified but they all require delicate disruption and reintegration of his chakra pathways. We need your eyes, Hinata. "

The Huuyga nodded slowly. How could she refuse?

"Good, come back here tomorrow morning. I'll inform Fugaku of your presence. For now, you're free to go."

Automatically, Hinata felt her head bow and her feet move to transport her out of the room. Tightness seized her chest, and she walked out of the hospital room in an anxious daze.

She never did get to see someone about her headaches.

* * *

"What are you doing here?" He asked in that standard monotone voice that conveyed how little he cared about everything. She had always wondering if it was a practiced persona that he extruded, or if he was actually this uninterested by everything.

Hinata groaned silently. She was tired after that stressful encounter with the Hokage and wanted nothing more than to be left alone.

"I had an appointment." She said in a clipped tone. Politeness forced a ingenuous smile to her lips, but her avoidance of his gaze signalled that she would like to go.

"Where are you headed?" He probed.

"I don't know," she tried and failed to keep her tone light. "Going to get food."

"Hn."

"Do…you want to come?" Mentally, Hinata kicked herself. Courtesy was bred into her and the invitation was extended before rationality could dampen habits.

Sasuke looked at her in contemplation and Hinata wondered if there was any way for her to retract her invitation. She felt herself being weighed under his scrutiny and without permission, heat became to encroach on her neck and cheeks until her whole head was aflame in embarrassment. Just decline if you don't want to, Hinata grumbled internally.

"Sure." An uncharacteristic grin overtook his features, and Hinata could not stop the surge of pleasure she felt in the validation that he found her worthy of his time. In that same moment, she also couldn't help feeling burdened with the task of entertaining him through dinner when all she wanted to do was go home and rest.

"Okay well, I was thinking Ichiraku's." It would quick and mostly painless meal this way, she decided. Ichiraku's was the love-child of a traditional restaurant and a food stand. There were no courses, no side dishes, no distractions. Just a simple main meal and then a swift exit. He didn't say anything but Hinata somehow sensed he was less than pleased with her choice.

The walk there was done in tenuous silence, which had Hinata twisting her fingers together in discomfort. But as they entered the shack that housed Ichiraku, the boisterous sounds of conversation accompanied by the melody of chopsticks hitting dinner plates and the click of glass on glass dissolved the tension between them.

"Sasuke!" Ayame greeted enthusiastically and began to lead him to a countertop seat before noticing the shorter blue-haired girl behind him.

"Oh Hinata! I'll be right with you."

"Actually, she's with me. We'll grab a table please." Hinata frowned. She was not _with_ him, if anything he was with her! It was her idea to come, not his. The confident cadence as he spoke stirred up jealousy in Hinata's chest. People rarely deferred to her as easily as they did with him but that couldn't be helped. Her timid nature did not make leadership natural for her, even when it came to commanding the attention of a waitress.

"Oh, sure. We'll set you up by the window." Ayame responded in a tone of confusion. Sasuke was a regular in the establishment but he was always accompanied by Naruto, sometimes with Sakura in tow, but she had rarely seen him with anyone else. It had initially made more sense to her that he came by himself.

Once Ayame finished taking each of their orders, Hinata began to worry. She had nothing to say to Sasuke and was not particularly skilled in making conversation. Worse still, he didn't seem inclined to bother trying to make conversation which meant the bulk of the responsibility for keeping up the pretense of normalcy for the next hour was left to her.

"So Sasuke, what did you do today?" She asked, fully aware of the mundane nature of her question.

"Trained." Was he trying to make this as difficult for her as possible?

"Oh, with Naruto and Sakura?"

"No, with my brother."

Uchiha Itachi. Of course. It was easy to forget the Uchiha clan's pride shinobi was also Sasuke's brother. The prodigious Uchiha was away on missions more often than not, but everyone knew who he was in the shinobi community. His name was praised in the halls of the Academy, and revered among chunin, jounin and even in ANBU.

The wave of admiration that followed Itachi wherever he went, whatever he did was abnormal to say the least. Prodigies within the clans were not as uncommon as people may believe. In the shinobi world, the weak were cut from life at a young age and in brutal manners. There was no room for the inadequate when you gambled your life in every enemy encounter. Nature worked its intentions swiftly and without mercy; it trimmed the ranks of soldiers like fat off a slab of beef, until all that remained were the lean and the strong. Individuals like her cousin, Neji, or Sasuke's brother, Itachi, were bred out by natural selection.

The tenuous life that she lived was not lost on her. Hinata knew that without the strong arms of her clan, she might never have lived to be as she is now. She was luckier than most.

"Will he be staying for long?" She asked politely.

Her expression was schooled into one of mild disinterest but her ears for keen for his answer. There was something about the mention of Itachi that brought her an unexplainable sense of comfort. Perhaps it was the notion that even Sasuke, one of the most skilled shinobi of the Konoha 12, paled in comparison to someone. She had watched him master technique after technique, move through fights with a masculine grace that the other members of their graduating class never seemed to muster, and it had made her spurn him from her mind. He needed to be brought back down to Earth. Itachi was her proof that in the realm of gods, he was still undeniable mortal. His faults were still fresh, and his abilities were lacking.

"Yes actually." Sasuke's eyes narrowed. He had too many encounters with girls who tried to pry information about Itachi out of him and the rigidity of his voice was instinctive.

But this was Hinata, with her large pale eyes, and blushing cheeks and finger twiddling, who spent too much time staring at his blonde-haired teammate and indiscreetly frequenting where Naruto frequented. Her intentions would be nothing if not innocent. And in all reality it would be more likely that she try to use him to gain Naruto's affections, not Itachi's, not that he could imagine her trying to use anyone. She was bumbling mess with her heart on her sleeve, and the truth on the tip of her tongue at all times. Being attractive did her no favours either. She was too mild to wield it as her weapon, yet undeniably enticing that she'd end up attracting all the wrong attention.

He remembered hearing about a butchered mission she'd been sent on two years ago. She'd hit the age limit that suddenly allowed for her to be assigned _escort_ missions. Who the hell thought she'd be successful in that type of mission was beyond him. And who the hell let her go was another big mystery. He'd thought the Hyuuga clan was fairly traditional in their values of virtue but apparently someone thought that the heiress needed to add seduction in her arsenal of skills.

She couldn't get past initiating mild banter from what he'd heard. In fact, the target had actually been interested in her without any encouragement. He'd gotten himself piss-drunk at their inn and came knocking on her door in the middle of the night. That should have been her ideal scenario. Instead, she'd locked the door and begged him to go away. Sasuke didn't think he'd ever begged anyone for anything past his pre-academy days. However, the Huuyga had gotten her intel regardless. The man had apparently been drunk enough that even with her unseemly gestures of rejection he'd whispered her information from the other side of the door in an attempt to sway her to trust him and open her door. If nothing else, Hinata had the type of maidenly charm, which could make the men prone to desire the pure and virtuous fall at her feet.

"What will he be doing back in the village?" Her question brought him back to the present moment.

"I'm not sure. Meditate. At least, that's the only thing I've seen him do so far. "

"I'm sure he has his own plans. Free time in the village must be a luxury for him." Hinata commented.

"It's a luxury for many of us."

Surprisingly, she giggled. "Yes, that's true. But many of us aren't 'saviour of the leaf village' or 'stealer of hearts of fair maidens everywhere' and barraged with solicitations of affection the moment we step foot in the village."

Sasuke grinned. "You still remember that?"

"How could I forget? All the girls were obsessed with him after he saved that watermelon stand owner's daughter who had been abducted by those gang members. It's all I heard in the academy halls, the village streets." Hinata shuddered. "That was a slightly hellish year."

"You're telling me." Sasuke grimaced. "I was the one who had to deal with all those girls that stood by my house, waiting for him to come home. Some of them were bold enough to try peaking into his room."

Hinata's mouth dropped into an 'O'. "That's terrifying."

"You're only hearing about it. I lived it. And…"

Sasuke leaned in the slightest amount, as if he were about to divulge a hefty secret. Hinata found herself leaning in mimic. "It got worse. That's how they noticed me."

She couldn't help the snort of laughter that escaped.

"Isn't that a bit too much ego you're showing there." She teased.

"It's not ego if it's true." He hissed back at her. "Believe me, I'd rather that I was making it up."

"Well I guess with Itachi out of the village so much, they had to find a suitable substitute. And the two of you do look pretty similar to each other." She half-joked while he glared at her.

"We don't look the same."

Ayame came back with both orders of ramen and gave Hinata a quick wink when she placed her bowl down. Taken aback, Hinata looked at her in horror. Oh, no, she couldn't possibly think that Hinata _liked_ Sasuke. She swallowed heavily. That would be preposterous. Had Sasuke seen? She peered at him over the top of her ramen bowl but his face gave away nothing. Face heated up with a blush, she tilted her head down so her hair fell to shield her flaming face from the world as she began to chew her noodles. She refused to look directly at him for the rest of the meal.

After the two finished their supper, Ayame came back with a single check. Hinata balked upon seeing this and squeaked, "U-uh, separate bills please!" but Sasuke shrugged nonchalantly and made the move to pay for both.

"No." Hinata's hand slapped down on his in a frantic motion. "I invited you. You shouldn't have to pay for me."

Sasuke wondered if perhaps he'd been hanging around with Sakura for far too long that she was no longer a female in to him. When she touched him, he barely noticed but when Hinata's fingers firmly held his in place, he felt a certain contentment at the contact.

"It's easier this way. The bill's already here, and your meal wasn't that expensive. If you want to make it up to me, you can pay next time." He said.

Ayame snickered lightly before walking away with the bills Sasuke laid out for her, and Hinata felt the need to call Ayame back and explain the situation to her but said nothing.

"Fine." She responded tersely. "Next time I'm paying." A slight pout donned her features causing Sasuke to smirk in response as he confirmed, "Next time."

* * *

"I believe I could have said no. It would have been difficult, but I think I could have done it."

"Do you wish you had?" She asked him.

"I don't know."

"Are you who you think are?" She caressed his face, the way a mother touches her child but different.

"I'm not sure if I know who I am anymore." He admitted without emotion.

"That's because you've forsaken morality for obedience." Her lips are tight, and her hand comes to rest on his shoulder. He could feel the soft heat of her palms on the exposed skin of his collarbone.

"Are you judging me?" He asked, feeling more anxious than he's willing to show.

Her smile was forlorn. "How can I? I've struggled with it my whole life. Though I will say I may have given in to morality far more than you've chosen to. Sometimes I wished that I had not."

"How did it feel?" She asked.

"Like a normal kill, but with more thought."

"Is that why you made it so gruesome?" She wondered.

"I've thought about ripping out people's hearts before, watching it beat in my hand before I crushed it in my palm, dig my fingers into the muscle and watch it weep with red." She admitted. "It used to be part of an awful game I would play with myself. I'd force myself to imagine being the perpetrator of heinous acts that made my stomach queasy. I was trying to de-sensitize myself."

"I feel that's not what you're doing. You're trying to test your limits, am I right Itachi?"

He didn't respond. Only the flicker of his eyes acknowledged that she had spoken.

She lay down in the cool grass and closed her eyes to listen to the sounds of forest life at night.

"You could kill me." The barest of shivers ran down her body. "Why haven't you?"

She reached out for his hand, groping for it blindly in the air before he slid his fingers to intertwine with hers.

"What am I to you?"

He pulled her upright and leaned her against him so they sit back to chest. His solid arms surrounded her tiny body, all soft tissue to his hard muscles.

"You need me." Her eyes were closed but she opened them to push him to the ground, flat on his back.

"And what if I do?" He asked while she sidled up next to him and tucked herself by his side with his arm supporting her neck.

"What am I to you?" She asked again.

"A sister."

"No," she responded as she settled herself even more comfortable next to him, adjusting her position until she felt the most at ease for sleep. "Redemption."

* * *

 _I mentioned previously that I've never seen shippuden and so I don't really know much about Itachi's arc, but I started reading up on it and then hours in, I'm watching youtube videos analyzing how strong Itachi actually was. The bad part is that I feel like I've grossly misrepresented him in this fic, but at the same time, I feel like the characters we come to know in fanfictions are not necessarily the ones in the original medium. And I don't mean in a specific case, like this specific story. There are certain generalization or 'accepted facts' about characters that show up in numerous fanfictions because we all read each other's works and pick up things from one another that we liked, so a lot of times we'll see the same kind of characteristics or actions or quirks being chosen to define a Naruto character that deviates from the manga/anime character ever so slightly and eventually, it becomes a blown out defining feature of that person. So while I don't think that Itachi I've been writing is comparable to the one in the originals, I do think he's fairly consistent in the major ways with how Itachi is typically portrayed in fanfictions that I've read._

 _What do you guys think?_


	5. Chapter 5

_I'm so waste. I've been trying to pound this chapter out for the past few weeks, but I couldn't make myself sit down long enough to write it. I actually ended up ripping a large part of this from a previous version that I had discarded but whatever, it worked out. Some of you guys were fairly perceptive with what's going on, but I can't really say much because it'll spoil the full reveal._

 _Also, thank you to all the reviewers of the last chapter who really gave a full opinion of the story and it's direction and how it reads. As well, thank you to those who tried to ease my uncertainties about how I portrayed Itachi._

 _Hehe, until next time._

 _Posted: June 24, 2017 (5:36 pm)_

* * *

She frowned. "What do you mean 'you don't know'? I thought that was the whole point."

"You wanted to prove yourself." She laughed in disbelief. "The great Itachi Uchiha had to prove himself."

He watched her laugh with a complete lack of awareness that only came with genuine comfort. The full belly laugh did not suit that small heiress, but in some sense, the woman laughing could not be considered the heiress.

"Why don't you say these things out loud. Why do you have to make me guess?" She asked him after her mania had subsided. "You used to talk more."

"You used to talk less." He countered.

"Would you like to me to revert back?" She replied sardonically.

Taking his hand in hers, she examined his fingers with her own. "That's an awful high entrance fee to pay for something that you don't even want."

"I didn't say I don't want it. I'm just unsure."

She rolled her eyes. "That an awful high entrance fee for something you're unsure about."

"Not everything in life in certain, _princess_." His voice was the same calm monotone that had become a soothing lullaby to her, like the gentle bubbling of the stream, yet she could feel the inflection on her teasing moniker.

"Not for most of us," she placed their hands down into the cool grass and shifted to sit more direct in front of him. "But not everyone is the Uchiha prince." She giggled and then stopped abruptly.

"You know, you're playing a dangerous game."

"My life is a series of dangerous games." But she was not amused.

"You're taking a pickaxe to the foundation of your life."

"Yes, but in a manner of thinking, that's the goal."

"He won't forgive you."

"I wouldn't expect him to."

"But you want him to." She paused. " _He_ won't forgive you. None of them will. You've parlayed your entire person on these destructive fancies that have you so disillusioned with yourself. They won't recognize you if they find out. You'll be a stranger; worse, you'll be a monster."

"Maybe I am a monster." The strain in his voice was almost imperceptible. Almost.

She was glad when a cloud passed over the moon and the brilliant white light dimmed so her face was no longer exposed with defining clarity. "We all are."

"You're too… too conscious of your own monstrosity though… You keep trying to push yourself to see how far you'll fall. You're still human, and you'll inevitably be deceitful, cruel, merciless but do you truly suppose that a person can live and not be the same?

"You're a masochist. And you're wallowing. No one else can see past your persona of indifference but I see what you're doing. You're setting yourself up to fulfill your own prophesy. You're a coward."

She glanced down and saw that his fingers had dug themselves into the Earth and had ripped out a mat of grass by the roots. The dirt sullied his pale hands with dark smears of black and she felt a pang of guilt in her chest.

Her lips pressed together warily before she wrapped her arms around him and rested her head against his solid chest.

"I'm sorry." She whispered. "That was unpleasant of me. I just… one day, you might find that you can't wash the blood off your hands."

He held her to gesture his acceptance of her apology. She leaned into him and sighed, the breath of which tickled his neck.

"When will you let me remember?"

Her fingers drew patterns over the clothe of his shirt, but he could still feel the tingle of tracings on his skin.

"When you're ready to."

 _And_ when _you're_ ready to, a tiny voice called out in the back of his mind.

* * *

The Uchiha medic eyed her warily and Hinata shuffled her feet, unsure how to proceed. She stood useless in the room while the woman before her checked Shishui's vitals and changed his bandages.

She bit her lip hard, and swung her gaze throughout the tiny room, trying to find something else to pay attention to. It felt uncomfortable to stare.

"So, how did you manage to get yourself this job?" The tension underlying the question was poorly hid under the lazy drawl of the Uchiha's voice.

"Tsunade-sama requested this of me."

The medic didn't reply back.

Hinata left the hospital in a state of agitation. She had spent the past 3 hours in complete social agony. The medic from the Uchiha clan had been less than friendly. Hinata would almost go as far to say that she had been hostile. Though thinking back to how Sasuke acted, perhaps it was her fault for expecting respect from an Uchiha.

She not done a single thing other than watch the medic perform various medical jutsus and tests. In fact, she had only been addressed for small menial tasks. _Get me the scissors. Get me more bandages._ At one point, she had even been told to move further away to the opposite side of the room. _You're crowding me._ It was unbearably humiliating. She had evidently been a burden to the medic and it had been pointed out relentlessly.

Leaving the place had been an immense relief and Hinata dreaded the thought of having to return in a few days. She wanted to ask the medic whether she would be needed here, or if she could just _leave and never come back_ but as always, she politely kept her mouth shut and departed.

The Uchihas and Huuygas always seemed to carry the remnants of political strife from the past. As perhaps the two largest clans in the village, power struggles had been unavoidable. They'd clashed many times through the history of these two prestigious families and every encounter with an Uchiha reminded Hinata that embittered feelings unavoidably last from generation to generation.

* * *

The smell of seasoned meat and the sound of sizzling fat wafted through the restaurant. It was Tenten's birthday and surprisingly, she had made an effort to invite everyone.

"Don't worry. I'll get you a seat next to Naruto." The bun-haired girl whispered to Hinata with a wink.

"Tenten." Neji ground out, his eyes narrowing dangerously.

He rarely chose to involve himself in Hinata's private matters, but her affections had blossomed throughout the years in a manner that no longer made itself private. Perhaps she hadn't meant to—and out of everyone, it is Neji who knows the goodness of her heart and the innocence of her intentions—but the minute she started following that blonde around, she had garnered herself a reputation that he would not stand for. Sometimes, he thought it worse than if his beloved cousin had been seduced because at least there was reciprocity.

He had wondered if it were best for her to confess, but fear struck him that Naruto would reject her or worse still, accept her. She needed to move on, he concluded. There was no room for Naruto in the Huuyga. She needed someone who fit.

Grabbing his cousin by the sleeve of her jacket, Neji guided her to take a seat by him and Lee.

Tenten rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation. Anyone could see the quiet longing Hinata harbored, but the girl was just too shy to act on her own. She was only trying to help.

"Oi, Naruto, over here!" Grinning, Tenten called the rambunctious blonde over and offered him her seat next to Hinata. Naruto smiled, all teeth and crinkled eyes, causing Hinata to bite her tongue in an effort to calm the butterflies stirring in the pit of her stomach.

"But what about Sasuke and Sakura?"

Of course. Predictably, the persistently unhappy Uchiha trailed behind his bubbly teammate with the pink-haired girl a close presence behind him.

"Here, I'll grab some extra chairs." Tenten improvised and ran off to find additional seating while conveniently ignoring the glare directed at her from Neji.

Hinata could not help the flush that heated her face when Naruto sat down next to her. Her heart raced and she felt dizzy from the pounding of blood in her ears. She felt so confined next to him, and dared not let her mind wander to think on how she would measure up under his scrutiny. Suddenly, she felt that her hair was too wild, her skin too dry and wished that someone would whisk her away. It was one situation to speak to him in an open field where she could step back when the distance closed too much, but here, he was much too close and much to focused and she had nowhere to run.

"Wow Hinata, your hair is so long now." And without warning, Naruto had picked up a section of the inky silk and ran his fingers down the thick strands. He only saw her these days on the training grounds, and she had taken to putting her hair up while she sparred.

Neji stiffened next to this cousin, and glared daggers at Naruto, who was too oblivious to notice the scathing look. In an attempt to intervene without actually having to be the one to say something, Neji gave a pointed look Sasuke and Sakura, who sat next to their friend, as if to say _do something about him, NOW._

As Sasuke looked at the now breathless Hinata, he couldn't help noticing the way her mouths parted as she took in small, soft inhales of air, or the half-lidded gaze she gave to Naruto – a look of want so intense it made him uncomfortable.

"We should place our orders." He said flatly, turning away from his friend to look at the menu instead.

"Yeah, the sooner we order, the sooner the food comes!" Naruto yelled excitedly.

Next to him, Sakura reached out and gently laid her fingers on the back of Sasuke's hand, which gripped the tea-stained paper menu.

"What are you going to get Sasuke-kun?" She asked with a bright smile.

He extracted himself from her touch.

"Probably just the usual." He replied without any interest in his voice.

"C'mon, you always get the same thing every time. You're missing out on all the other tasty dishes."

But that's just how Sasuke was. He liked the things he liked, did the things that worked, said the things that were worth saying, and he did not deviate. He was the biting edge of a sharp blade, any dullness ground away until all that was left was efficiency. That was what he aimed for. That was what his brother had taught him.

"I think it's good to know what you like. " Hinata's quiet voice piped up. She offered the Uchiha an unsure smile before throwing her head down, and shielding her face with the menu.

As everyone chatted after giving their orders to the waitress, Hinata could not help but feel horribly out of place. She had nothing to say and was content with listening, but the longer she remained silent, the more agitated she felt. Tenten kept giving her side-glances that seemed to demand for Hinata to interact with the boy beside her. The expectation to talk pressing down on her, and her mind ran away from her at the anxiety of thinking up something worthwhile to say.

"Excuse me." Hinata whispered to Neji, as she made movements to get up and leave.

His hand grabbed her wrist and pulled her back lightly. "Where are you going?"

"Outside," she replied. "For some fresh air. It's hot in here."

He seemed to contemplate her statement as if it were a request, before nodding his head at her. His mouth was firm, but his eyes were wary.

A cool breeze blew the strands of Hinata's hair into her face, and she struggled to remain composed as she grabbed at the loose strands in an effort to hold them aside. It was the little moments like this, the ones where she failed to maintain any semblance of grace and elegance that made the white-eyed girl frustrated. She could not recall ever seeing anyone else struggling like a lunatic against themselves in public. They were always naturally composed, while she felt at the constant edge of falling apart.

Overhead a flock of ravens flew westward towards the forest. The dimming red-orange glow of the setting sun bathed the shiny, black feathers in a warm tint, and reflected off in parts. The vibrating 'kraa' call of the ravens to each other brought on the beginning of a dull pounding discomfort in Hinata's head; a tendril of thought pulled on the edges of her unconscious.

A hand placed itself on her shoulder, and she turned to find Neji beside her. "Come in. The food's ready."

They walked in together, and feeling a wave of anxiety, Hinata instinctively grabbed on to the sleeves of Neji's shirt like she had when they were toddlers. The small stilt in his step, a pause that lasted a millisecond, was the only sign that he was surprised by her action.

"Oh boy, I've been waiting for this all day." Naruto said excitedly. "I was thinking about it all through Kakashi-sensei's lecture." And then that brilliant, full-teethed smile appeared on his face, and Hinata couldn't help thinking that it was somehow worth all the discomfort of the night.

And Sasuke couldn't help thinking that he shouldn't have come, because now he would have to hear Hinata's longing sighs and watch her gaze at Naruto all night. He caught enough of that already, except now, he wasn't privy to the option of looking away. His seat had him practically facing the heiress head-on, and his eyes couldn't help tracing her features—the rise and dip of her nose, the planes of her cheeks, the curve of her plump lips. She was the only thing that attracted his attention.

He called for the waitress with a wave of his hand. "I'll also get a bottle of sake."

"Yeah, right!" Naruto cheered from beside him.

* * *

She stomped along the dirt road in a manner so anomalous from her usual small steps. Her legs felt heavy, and she could only roughly coordinate their movement as she blinked tiredly. The worst of her drunken confusion was wearing off, but it gave way to a tiredness she was not accustomed to.

She drank too much, both from nerves and from inertness. And another motivation she couldn't quite put her finger on. Neji's disgruntled demeanor towards her rapid succession of drinks was intimidating initially, until he himself fell into a drunken state thanks to Tenten's requests for him to drink each time she drank. The two had left with a red-faced Lee and though Neji had insisted Hinata come with them, she had protested that Kiba could help her if need be.

However, Kiba was not the one to walk her drunken self home.

Shoes in hand, Hinata glanced over at the tall, dark-haired man on the other side of the road. The streetlights cast a wash of warmth over his features. An unusual red flush was present on his face and neck, an odd resemblance to his walking partner.

Their two clans were both located on the outskirts of the village, in the same direction until a split in the road that ran opposite ways.

She stumbled, an ungainly flail of arms and shout of surprise, and found herself fallen down. A sharp pain in her ankle made her crawl to her side and tuck her head in as a newborn would. Hinata wanted to cry loud and jagged cries. It could her been the alcohol, or it could have been herself.

Sasuke watched on unimpressed but he walked over and bent forward to pick her up. She swatted away his hands from the ground.

"You're just going to lay there?" He asked annoyed. "What happened to that great Huuyga pride?"

She lifted her head up to fix him with a glare. "You're one to talk. There's a reason the Uchiha symbol is based on a peacock."

He bristled at her words. "A peacock…"

"Yes," she giggled now, though not too kindly. "Fanning your tail. Always on display."

"At least we actually have something to display." He sneered.

"You Uchiha are all jerks." She pouted in anger. Sasuke wondered who else she could be talking about.

"I should just leave you here." He threatened.

"I'm surprised you haven't already left." She huffed in fake-bravado, the remnant feeling of intoxication spurred her on. "You have no manners."

Against all odds, that was the one notion that dug itself under Sasuke's skin. He was civilized; he was not the epitome of a gentleman but goddamn it, he had manners. His mother had made sure of that. Why else did he take on the burden of walking her home?

Sasuke growled in displeasure before picking Hinata off the dirt road against her protests and continued to walk with her, bridal-style in his arms.

"What are you doing Uchiha." The words weren't slurred but they were noticeably less enounced, her tongue felt heavy.

"Getting you home since you're a cripple." He muttered in annoyance.

She kept quiet afterwards and they travelled the path in silence, punctuated by the chirping of crickets and buzz of insects. The lull of her breathing, steady and sure, pressed against him sending goosebumps up his arm. He would have thought her to be asleep if not for….

"Uchiha."

"Hn."

"Uchiha." She said again, this time as if tasting his surname, feeling the lilt of the beginning and the sigh of the ending.

Sasuke could hear her muttering it under her breath like a chant. It was odd and unnerving. He grit his teeth together in irritation and considered throwing her out of his arms and leaving her here.

"Uchiha." Louder this time and yet contemplative. She made him sound like a mystery.

"Uchiha!"

"What!?" He yelled at the woman in his arms. "What do you want?"

She grasped the front of his shirt and twisted her body to throw her weight against his chest causing him to almost fall backwards before catching himself.

"Are you crazy or just stupid?" He growled out before she twisted herself again, and this time, he fell. A sharp pang shot up from his tailbone and the air was knocked out from his lungs as the Hyuuga heiress landed on his chest.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Sasuke was furious. He was done being helpful. He made the motion push her off of him, but she crawled up his upper body with hands that grabbed fistfuls of his shirt. The fire of his ire was molten but even that could not blunt the feel of her, sliding up his body, smoothing herself over him. Her face was sudden too close to him, she loomed like a shadow above him, and those pink lips he'd been staring at earlier in the night parted in a sigh before brushing, soft, over his own.

"Uchiha."

He looked at her now, on guard. Her eyelids hid her pearlescent eyes from his view yet he could feel the thrum of possession vibrant in her being. She seemed taken over by a silent frenzy that was somehow less high and frantic and more somber and heavy.

Under the moonlight, her skin was luminescent and her dark hair was stark against the beauty of her blushed cheeks, pale collarbone, exposed neck. Sasuke thought back to earlier that night when he had seen her looking at Naruto, admiring his friend and the pit of his stomach twisted in a sickening feeling of disgust and jealousy.

He cupped Hinata's cheek, her eyes still closed, and caressed her lips in a tender, hesitant kiss, tasting her with the tip of his tongue.

* * *

The moon shone down on the meadow and up above, the clouds wafted lazily in the sky. They oversaw a lanky man dressed in black who would have blended into the dark lush grass field he laid on if not for how pale complexion. His eyes were closed as if asleep, and he was all alone.


	6. Chapter 6

_Here I am, telling myself that I should try to update once a week and everytime, I always break that that promise to myself. It's because I always write out what I think I want to happen and then my mind's like nope, that sounds cool but I want to write this._

 _On a separate note, I'm thinking of getting a tumblr for fanfiction purposes but I made my account so long ago and my username is *cough* ahem, kind of embarrassing *cough* but I want to keep it for nostalgic purposes. Should I make my tumblr under a different username or would that be too confusing?_

* * *

Sasuke remembers when he first noticed Naruto's shadow. The idiot only bothered to pay attention to his surroundings when in battle or training which left him oblivious to the world at all other times. But Sasuke always kept his guard up; he was quiet,  
and cunning and he saw.

She had only ever admired his teammate from afar, and anytime the blonde would unknowingly get too close to where she stood, she'd scamper off as if afraid. Or if running away was not an option, she'd turn to her teammates and start a conversation so  
she could hide her face, have her back turned. Sasuke didn't understand and thought she must have been damaged in the head; he'd experienced the way Sakura and Ino chased after him, affronting him at every step, vying for his attention at every moment.  
It made no sense to him that she would turn away from the person of her affections, would distance herself purposefully and avert his gaze. It made him uncomfortable, the way she went about it. Often, he'd find her she'd pushing her pointer fingers  
together and stare at the floor with a faint blush adorned on her cheeks.

When Sasuke turned 12, his mother took him and Itachi to the Hachiman shrine a little ways outside the village. Itachi had been assigned on a mission in the Land of Lightning. It was a diplomatic matter and he was merely guarding Konoha officials, but  
rumours had spread within the shinobi ranks that the Raikage was ready to declare war if things did not turn out to his liking.

Mikoto had decided to be preemptive. She was a spiritual woman who lacked Fugaku's more stern sensibilities. Sasuke found him kneeling on the wooden floors, forehead to the ground alongside his brother and his mother as they prayed in unison for prowess  
in their endeavours and victory at their feet should anything war-like transpire. Watching his mother as she lit the incense, bowed, murmured words of praise and hope, he began to understand. Hinata Hyuuga did not fear Naruto Uzumaki in the manner  
he originally supposed. It was not mere cowardice that kept her distant. No, she was reverent.

If Konoha had a god, Hinata supposed that she had found him. It made his stomach churn and the smooth skin of his forehead had furrowed with deep lines of displeasure. When they returned home, he had laid in bed for the rest of the day.

Once they had tested through the Chuunin exams, the situation escalated. Naruto had defended her honour when he went up against her cousin, Neji Hyuuga. In turn, she became more bold and started to follow him around. Sasuke often saw a person and their  
crop of blue-black hair darting between the trees of their training ground as his team trained. It was disgusting. If someone had asked him his opinion of Hinata Hyuuga at that point in his life, he would have recited a litany of disparaging descriptions  
as his impression of that girl. She was pathetic and it made him sick.

When he turned 16, his relationship with Sakura came to a boiling point, or more specifically, his lack of a relationship with his teammate. A friendship was inevitable when you're teammates; no matter how fragile a bond is when initially formed, it is  
molded by trust and exposure into a thick rope of steel forged from the sweat and blood shared between comrades. But she had come to him with overflowing eyes and thunderous sobs, and demanded for more. _She couldn't take it_ , she'd said, _it made her nauseous watching him bed whores on their missions. Not when she loved him._ So  
he'd stopped. It wasn't an uncommon practice, and most shinobi of a certain age had made a habit of releasing the tension of their duty with the carnivorous pleasures of the flesh. But for her sake, he gave up the practice whenever she was around.  
However, she remained a comrade. Some requests, he could not acquiesce to.

Dealing with Sakura during this period of time was a period of hell for Sasuke. She was relentless in her pursuit and her confessions and everytime, she'd beg for him to hear her out. _Am I not even worth a few moments of your time?_ To his own  
surprise, Sasuke learned a lot from this version of Sakura. He'd become cognizant of a potential emotional failing on his part, he'd learned that passion turned people into creatures he couldn't recognize, and he'd learned that the feeling of your  
guts being twisted inside your abdominal cavity was called jealousy.

Sakura had shown him that his feeling of needing to retch whenever he saw Hinata glancing at Naruto, chasing him, adoring him, was called jealousy.

Once again, the situation containing Hinata Hyuuga made little sense. How could he be jealous of such a pathetic little girl? Perhaps because Sasuke's only notion of the workings of jealousy was through his relationship with his older brother, he didn't  
know that if someone was the cause of another's jealousy, it was not always because the other wanted to be them. Sasuke had had years of experience with envy, having lived side-by-side with Itachi and always fallen short of his brother's mastery of  
the shinobi arts. His only conceptualization of that pernicious green-eyed monster was the tightness he felt in his chest when his father's eyes would glaze over him and land on Itachi.

Next to Itachi, he wanted the glory and recognition of being unrivalled. Itachi made Sasuke want to be him. But Hinata caught him off guard. She didn't just make him want, she made him _crave_ for the kind of unconditional affection she lavished  
on others, on Naruto. She made him want her.

* * *

She pressed her lips against his neck in a butterfly kiss and he hummed in approval. The vibrations caused her to giggle, the air from her exhales caressing his skin. He leaned back on her elbows to get a good look at the expression on her face. Her pale  
face accented the inflamed red of her lips, swollen from his nips and sucks. Her eyes were wide and bright in the darkness, seeming to reflect what little light there was, nothing like the trance-like gaze that she had first looked at him with when  
they'd first kissed.

Sasuke hadn't expected this from her, especially not from her, especially not with him. But she had been the one to initiate; she had been the one to respond when he kissed her again; and she had been the one to lead him into the forest, hobbling with  
a swollen ankle in a fashion that likely would have had him laughing at her if she hadn't looked at him the whole time like she wanted to devour him.

Hinata Huuyga was a soft-spoken lamb, always with a shepherd. Always following. He was following a lioness; he didn't recognize her.

 _I'm going to get to the bottom of this_ , he'd told himself as he laid her on the forest floor in front of him. _I'm going to find out what's going on_ , he mentally recited as he snuck his tongue past her lips and tasted her.

It was not that Sasuke wasn't curious about what had come over Hinata. In fact, he was apprehensive about the whole situation, but the logic of his mind fell second to the yearning of his ego to have her and to prove that he was worthy. He wanted to dominate  
over her, impress upon her a want for him that surpassed everything else. His pride demanded it. 

With every breathy moan she released, he could feel the edges of his mind cloud over more and more with animalistic instinct. The primate was winning over the man and he couldn't even redeem himself by being bothered by it.

"Sasuke", she whined in a voice wholly uncharacteristic of herself. So when she looked up shyly at him through her eyelashes, he felt comforted by the familiarity of that look though it had never been directed towards him until now.

"You're wearing far too much clothing." She whispered to him with a charming smile.

He was unarmed for that look, that smile, those words. And even as the impossibility of Hinata ever saying that set off alarm bells in his head, he found himself telling her "I don't have to be."

Her fingers were gentle on his skin, trailing touches up and down his biceps and his forearms. The hint of nails that lightly scratched him from time to time set tingles up his body. He couldn't bare to touch her back. The feeling of her hands on him  
felt too good and he couldn't help the fear that if he moved at all from his position, she would stop and the moment would finish.

She ran her fingers through the soft straight locks of his hair and drew his mouth down to hers once more.

"Ahem."

Sasuke's eye snapped open at the disturbance. He hadn't noticed a third-party earlier but their chakra presence was now unmistakable. An ANBU was perched on the tree above them, looking down.

"Princess, don't you think it's a little too late to be out here in the dark?" Sasuke looked over to see Hinata next to him, sitting on her hind haunches, but rather than petrified as he'd expect, she looked exasperated.

"I can take care of myself." She said without humour. "Let me have my fun."

The officer glanced over only briefly at Sasuke for the sake of addressing him. "You should go home. I can take the princess back to the compound."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed in response. Even he wasn't as heartless as to leave her in the hands of a masked stranger, ANBU or not.

"Are you going to give me a lecture when we get back too, _brother_?" The annoyance in Hinata's voice was clear but that last part caught him off guard. Even though the word been stressed to seem sarcastic, it made Sasuke re-think the situation.  
Was this Neji? But not, he had stumbled out with Tenten and Lee only hours ago. There was too little time for him to have recovered to this level of sobriety. Although, it was becoming clear that Hinata obviously knew the ANBU quite well but he was  
still wary of leaving her alone without knowing who the other man was.

"You should listen to him. I'll be fine." Hinata sighed before giving Sasuke a wry smile.

"Hn," he nodded his head slowly, trying to work out right up until the last moment if he'd listen to her or not. "If you say so." He took one final glance at the shiny porcelain smile above him before dashing away.

The ANBU jumped down and landed in front of Hinata.

"You've been causing trouble." Even without seeing his expression, she could hear the disapproval.

"That's not true," she argued. "It was consensual. There was no trouble… until you got here." She pursed her lips to one side in a show of dissatisfaction.

"What you did was inappropriate." His voice was cold as ice and despite the humid warmth of the summer night, she couldn't help the shiver that ran down her spine.

"You're the only one that thinks that." She was angry now. Being frightened made her angry, and she lashed out by reaching out to grab the porcelain mask off his face.

He caught her wrist mid-way in a vice grip.

"Stop hiding behind that damn mask." She hissed in irritation.

His other hand raised to his face, fingers outstretched, and ripped the mask off. The thin lines of his lips were white from pressure, and his dark eyes were black as coal.

"What happened tonight?" The calm of his voice almost disguised the demand in his words.

"I was out late." She answered curtly.

"That doesn't explain why you'rehere with my brother." Itachi never shouts. He doesn't have to. The deadly intent seeping out between the tone of his words is enough. Hinata may have felt comfortable being frustratingly rude to him a moment ago, but she  
knew that his patience had run out. She surmised that it was probable this tended to happen whenever Sasuke was involved. To say that the older brother was overprotective could not be overstated.

"We were celebrating and I don't know, I must have fallen asleep while he was walking me back."

"How did you end up _on top of him like that_?"

She blushed a faint pink. "I kissed him."

"And why would you do that?" He all but hissed at her.

The blush spread down her neck and over her chest as it darkened to a deep crimson. "I thought it was you." She whispered. "You're always the one there when I wake up."

"I only meant to kiss you as a joke." She added, but neither could say if they were believed it. "But then he started kissing me back."

The frigid expression on Itachi's face softened for a miniscule fraction of a second before being re-instated as a permanent fixture.

"And well," Hinata's nervous posture was exemplified even more when she absently started pointing her index fingers together, a gesture that surprised the both of them though neither expressed the emotion. "I couldn't exactly control myself since that's  
one of the domains where you got rid of most of my … inhibitions."

Realization flashed across his face. "I see."

"Well, I didn't foresee this particular aspect of the …situation."

"I am still a woman, you know!" Hinata huffed in angry embarrassment. "Is it really that difficult to have imagined that I would like kissing a man?"

"I still would be if you hadn't showed up." She muttered under her breath.

Itachi rolled his eyes. "You'd likely be doing more than kissing at this point, princess. You should be glad I found you when I did."

She laughed without humour. "Is it so strange to think that I could wanted more? Or stranger still, you don't think much of your precious little brother do you, to think he would try to do more than I wanted?"

"And damnit, wasn't what I was doing the whole point of _this_!? What is the purpose of lessening my inhibitions if I can't act on them? I've played along Itachi, I've played along damn well with this game of yours. You think I didn't figure your  
intentions out after the first few times? That you were using me to relieve your own guilt?"

The words left her lips in a flurry, one rushing after the other. And for once, Itachi didn't know what to say. The cold, cunning logic he normally used to argue with seemed wrong for this conversation. He felt raw at her words because he knew they were  
true, and he hadn't been able to accept that about himself yet.

He'd seen her in the lush meadow that night, after that near-kill, and he had contemplated killing her, a simple, sleeping girl, to test the extent of his capabilities for despicableness. What was more morally depraved than a person who killed what was  
good and beautiful for the sake of destroying it so there was less good and beautiful in the world? If he could do that, he could do anything, he'd told himself. He could rid himself of that nagging conscience that plagued him with gruesome kills,  
unpleasant maims. He would get some rest after all these years.

But she'd woken up and saw him barefaced. When she called his name, whispered like wind breezing through willow branches, he knew he could not do it. Not to a girl like her, who was all soft limbs and doe eyes and sweet smiles that slipped out behind  
laughter caught between fingertips. He had meant to put her back to sleep through his genjutsu; she would sleep on without awareness of the danger that had almost descended upon her. But he was tired and she had trained with Kurenai since her genin  
days, and who had known that she would fight him and wake up as her unconscious, as her unresolved turmoils that roared in the presence of her mind at night, the parts of her that went about uncivilized.

She had jolted awake from his genjutsu petrified, with tears streaming down her face in rivers and lungs that couldn't catch their breath. He'd thought of leaving her there, but her whole body cried out to be held and comforted. When he finally calmed  
her down, and she spoke out in infantile tongues, he realized she couldn't be older than 6. He saw 6 year Hinata a few more times before she disappeared. Others appeared in her stead: angry Hinata, doubtful Hinata, pensive Hinata, and bitter Hinata.  
The last was his favourite so far; she was a comfort to him in ways none of the others could be. She spoke the truth. She was desolate, desperate, dying just like him.

He came back to her every night, let her resolve her feelings and her demons, then put her back to sleep without disturbing her daylight world. He even crafted a jutsu for the purpose of rousing her as pieces of herself when she fell asleep at night.  
It made him feel like he was doing good – like he could be absolved of his crimes if he saw this through and helped this drowning girl swim. But along the line, he'd also put his burdens on her. He made her his salvation, his priest, and demanded  
absolution from her – and being who she was, she wanted to give it to him. Sometimes, she also held it against him, over him, but in the end, always gave in to him. She took power from it, but it made her weak because the minute she tried to give  
him peace, she failed; it wasn't hers to give. And he tormented her over it because she could _feel_ him yearning and her nature dictated she _soothe_. Even in her anger, even in her pain.

"You tell me I'm resolving but you don't let me remember and I don't feel different. Tell me how I'm fixing anything when I forget every night."

"It's for the best. Forgetting slows realization but what is unconscious soon becomes conscious."

"Just let me remember," she begged and clutched the fabric of his shirt. "I won't run away, I swear. I won't be frightened or disturbed."

But how could she not when she wakes up the next morning with the realization that Itachi Uchiha had been poking inside her head with her alter egos. She would feel violated. She would hate him.

"I could help you more if I knew everything. Itachi. During the day. It would help me and I would make sure to help you. If he got better, you would too. They're not letting anyone in except the medics and me and I know you can't say anything to them  
without causing trouble for yourself. Itachi," she pawed at his shirt harder, her fingers digging into the flesh of his chest, "let me help you heal Shishui."

* * *

Sasuke had tossed and turned all night until the first rays of sunrise hit his window pane and spread over the cold oak floor. Moments from the previous night kept replaying in his mind and a nagging anxiety had kept him up with the worry that he had  
made the wrong choice when he left her alone with a someone who was a stranger to him. In between his worries, he couldn't stop seeing flashes of her in front of him, on top of him; he couldn't stop feeling her lips on his, her touch on his body.  
He knew her behaviour was strange but that didn't stop the electric feeling that shot him to the core when he thought of all the things he'd discovered about her body, and all the things left undiscovered. All night, he found his body hot with tension  
and desire.

Out of habit, he'd risen at the first sign of light, but the dull ache of his mind craved rest. Absentmindedly, he noted that Itachi had still not returned from the night before. The door to his room was ajar and the bedding untouched. New clothes for  
a new day still laid strewn on his chair.

He shook his head to clear his thought as he stepped out into the rising light of the new day, taking a deep breath of cool morning air. He strolled leisurely into the village, ready to knock on Naruto's door and wake him up for morning training. That  
was their morning routine now. The idiot slept past noon if no one dragged him out of the comforts of his bed and Sasuke was more than willing to be that person.

Up ahead, he saw a figure with long dark hair walking with a weaved basket on her arm. Increasing his pace ever so slightly, his suspicion was confirmed as he gained ground on her lazy pace. Hinata was swinging the basket ever so slightly, her eyes held  
upward by the bright blue hue of the morning sky. The sun had risen beyond the horizon and was making it's way higher and higher, shining rays of warmth down on the village.

Sasuke remained frozen. Did he overtake her, did he acknowledge her or merely remain silently behind her, avoiding her gaze if she happened to look back? The pit of his stomach churned uncomfortable. He assumed it was from hunger.

He was saved from having to make a decision. She turned left, likely towards the market, but as she did so, she glanced back and caught sight of him on the road behind her. It had been a mere second, but Sasuke thought he saw her become immobile at the  
realization of his presence, but it was too quick and once that second passed, she threw him a shy smile, a hint of pink on her cheeks. Then she was on her way, without sparing him a second glance.

He felt oddly offended. Out of the two of them, Hinata was the more emotional one, the one prone to embarrassment and emotional perturbances. But here he was, feeling unknown feelings gnaw at his chest and she looked at him like he was every other person  
in the village.

* * *

 _When I started this story, I completely wanted to include more mature scenes hence the M rating. However, I'm wobbling now. What you guys think of ... essentially smut? I mean, I will likely still write out those scene when appropriate but if a lot you are underage and/or don't want to see that, I might post it as *extra* scenes in a separate 'story' or on another site (TUMBLR?)_


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